Get to know Adam Ondra and the new Olympic sport, Sport Climbing.
Meet Adam Ondra. Adam is participating for the Czech Republic in the new Olympic sport of Sport Climbing.
In the world of climbing It is very rare to find an athlete who excels in both competition and traditional. Adam is that guy. This is what is looks like to be one of the best in the world in two totally different styles of climbing.
In 2017, Adam climbed Silence, in the Hanshelleren Cave, Norway. The route was unclimbed and was regarded as one of the toughest projects, and was classified as Grade 9c. I don’t really know what that means and you probably don’t either so to give you some perspective, this climb was previously just called Route Hard. In the same year, he set a new highpoint of the Black Diamond Project in Stockholm which is believed to be the toughest indoor sport route.
Climbers are people who I will never understand their motivations, but respect the hell out of their ability and drive. I mean you give me the option of climbing literally anything or being forced to watch a Keeping up with the Kardashians marathon? I’ll be reupping on mimosas with the basics at brunch on Sunday.
Adam Started climbing at age six. He is a seven-time World Cup gold medalist. Ondra was one of the first athletes to qualify for the Olympics at the 2019 IFSC Combined Qualifier in France. He has won both lead and bouldering World Cup Championships, and he is frequently lauded as one of the best climbers in the world.
Getting to know sport climbing:
Athletes are graded on their performance in each discipline. The medalists will be the three climbers that perform the best across the three disciplines of Bouldering, Speed, and Lead. Here is a run down of the rules for each discipline.
Olympic Lead Climbing
The lead climbing competition is held on 15m walls with a 6m overhang. Before the competition, all the athletes get 6 minutes of observation to study the routes. Then, each climber gets one attempt. There is a time limit of 6 minutes per attempt.
The climber that reaches the highest hold on the wall is awarded the top rank. The holds are numbered and function as points in a system. For example, the 20th hold on the wall would equal 20 points. When an athlete falls, they are recorded on which hold they fell (giving them a score).
Olympic Bouldering
In bouldering, athletes compete to finish as many problems as they can in as short a time as possible. The qualification round has a total of four problems (different problems for men and women) with a time allotment of up to 5 minutes. The finals round has three boulder problems.
Each boulder problem has starting holds, zone holds, and a top hold. A zone hold is a way to measure climbers that reach a midpoint in the problem, but not the top. (Climbers who reach zone holds get partial credit.)
Topping a boulder problem means an athlete reaches the top hold, places two hands on the top hold, and maintains control. To “flash” a boulder is to top it on a first attempt.
At the end of the round, climbers are ranked based on most boulders topped, most zone holds reached, and fewest total attempts. Their score (and chances of getting on the podium) increases if they top or flash a problem.
Olympic Speed Climbing
The aim of speed climbing is to scale a 15m wall (same as lead climbing) as quickly as possible. Athletes go head to head on identical routes in two “lanes.” Each athlete gets two attempts to record their fastest possible time.
Eight athletes will compete in the finals. Here, speed climbing is a single-elimination tournament-style event. Athletes are initially ranked 1-8 based on qualification results. Then, climbers face off in quarterfinal matchups.
The winners of the quarterfinals advance to the semifinals, while the losers face off for rankings #5-8. The climbers repeat the speed wall process in the semifinals, with the winners advancing to the final (the losers face off for #3 and #4 rankings).
The winner of the final race wins the speed discipline. The slower climber places second in the discipline.
I have some mixed feelings here. This is not rock climbing to me. I guess that’s why they call it sport climbing, but still. This has more of an Astro Crag kind of feel doesn’t it? When I think climbing I think of Dawn Wall, or Free Solo with Alex Honold, or Sasha Digulian crushing a Grade 9a. Rock Climbing has high risk and technical skill. It involves tacking up a tent on the side of a cliff and taking dumps off the side. I don’t envision and dumps being had at the Sport Climbing gym in Tokyo. But, who am I so say?
When it comes to the new events in this year’s Olympics Sport Climbing probably falls below skateboarding because I have a deep rooted love for Tony Hawk’s pro skater 2. No, I have never skate boarded my self. I have too much self preservation for that. It’s probably why I also have never rock climbed outside of gym class. That and some PTSD of Mr. Long going ham on my nads tightening the harness. Sport Climbing certainly comes in above Baseball though. #deadtome
Meet your U.S. Olympic climbing team:
Brooke Raboutou, Nathaniel Coleman, Kyra Condie, and Colin Duffy. BIOS
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