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Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help secure footholds, chalk to keep their hands dry and to provide a firmer grip, and bouldering mats to prevent injuries from falls. Unlike free solo climbing, which is also performed without ropes, bouldering problems are usually less than six metres (20 ft) tall. Traverses, which are a form of boulder problem, require the climber to climb horizontally from one end to another. Artificial climbing walls allow boulderers to climb indoors in areas without natural boulders. In addition, bouldering competitions take place in both indoor and outdoor settings.
Competition climbing is a form of regulated rock climbing competition held indoors on purpose-built artificial climbing walls. The three competition climbing disciplines are lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. The result of multiple disciplines can be used in a "combined" format to determine an all-round winner. Competition climbing is sometimes called "sport climbing", which is the name given to pre-bolted lead climbing.
Janja Garnbret is a Slovenian professional rock climber who specializes in sport climbing and competition climbing. She has won multiple competition lead climbing and competition bouldering events, two Olympic gold medals, and is widely regarded as the greatest competition climber of all time. In 2021, Garnbret became the first-ever female Olympic gold medalist in climbing, and successfully defended her title in 2024. With two gold medals, she is the most successful Slovenian athlete at the Summer Olympics. She is also the world's first-ever female climber to onsight an 8c (5.14b) graded sport climbing route.
Competition climbing made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Two events were held, one each for men and women. The format controversially consisted of one combined event with three disciplines: lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering. The medals were determined based on best performance across all three disciplines. This format was previously tested at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. The Olympic code for sports climbing is CLB.
Akiyo Noguchi is a Japanese professional rock climber who specializes in competition bouldering as well as outdoor bouldering and sport climbing.
There were 40 quota spots available for sport climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) could obtain a maximum of 2 spots in each event. Each event had 20 competitors qualify: 18 from qualifying, 1 from the host (Japan), and 1 from Tripartite Commission invitations.
South Africa competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's eighth consecutive appearance at the Games in the post-apartheid era, and twentieth overall in Summer Olympic history.
The 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 16th edition, were held in Hachioji, Japan from 11 to 21 August 2019. The championships consisted of lead, speed, bouldering, and combined events. The paraclimbing event was held separately from 16 to 17 July in Briançon, France. The combined event also served as an Olympic qualifying event for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Ludovico Fossali is an Italian competition speed climber. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Men's combined climbing.
Oriane Bertone is a French rock climber, who specializes in competition climbing, but is also noted for her sport climbing and her bouldering.
Mia Krampl is a Slovenian rock climber who specialises in competition climbing. In 2019, she finished second in lead at the IFSC Climbing World Championships and qualified to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games by finishing third at the IFSC Combined Qualifier in Toulouse. Krampl also has a pair of podium finishes at the IFSC World Youth Championships, as well as two gold and one bronze medal at the European Youth Championships.
The sport climbing competition at the 2022 World Games took place from 14 to 16 July 2022, at the Sloss Furnaces, Birmingham, United States. Originally scheduled to take place in July 2021, the Games were rescheduled for July 2022 as a result of the 2020 Summer Olympics postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It served as a qualifying event for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Tom O'Halloran is an Australian rock climber who specialises in competition climbing, sport climbing, bouldering.
Sean Bailey is an American professional rock climber, who specializes in competition climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering. He has represented the United States in the IFSC Climbing World Cup in lead climbing, and has two podium finishes in bouldering at individual legs of the World Cup, including a win at the Salt Lake City leg of the 2021 World Cup.1 and three in lead climbing, including two gold medals, at the Villars leg, and Chamonix leg, in July 2021.
Oceania "Oceana" Mackenzie is an Australian rock climber and competition climber who specializes in competition bouldering. She competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics, coming 19th, and in the 2024 Summer Olympics, coming 7th.
Christopher Cosser is a South African competition climber. He won the combined event at the 2020 African Climbing Championships. This qualified him for the combined event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where he finished 16th out of 20 competitors. In December 2023, Cosser placed second in the 2023 African Continental Qualifier behind Mel Janse Van Rensburg and therefore failed to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Competition climbing at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place from 5 to 10 August at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Saint-Denis, returning to the program for the second time since the sport's official debut three years earlier in Tokyo 2020. The total number of medal events was doubled from two in the previous edition because the boulder-and-lead tandem had been separated from the speed format. Furthermore, the number of climbers increased from 40 to 68.
Emma Hunt is an American competition climber who specializes in competition speed climbing, and holds the American women's speed record with 6.301 seconds, set at the USA Climbing North American Cup in Salt Lake City in April 2024.
Erin McNeice is an English rock climber who specialises in competition climbing. She represented Great Britain at the 2024 Summer Olympics, finishing fifth in the combined Boulder and Lead competition.
Lauren Mukheibir is a South African rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. As of 2024, Mukheibir is the reigning female African Champion in the women's combined bouldering-and-lead category, and she represented South Africa in that category at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
References
- 1 2 "Olympics 2020: Erin Sterkenburg". UK Climbing. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
