Not held in other Games

Sport Climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Dates 3 – 6 August 2021
Medal Events 2

One of the new sports added to the Olympic program in Tokyo was sport climbing. It was held on indoor artificial walls built only for the purpose of climbing. The first of these walls are believed to have been built in the 1930s in the United States, and the first modern artificial walls were created in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. These days, the walls are built of plywood on a metal frame, with bolted-on plastic holds. The original walls were all outdoor, with the first indoor wall being built in Italy in 1974.

From the 1980s, the sport increased in popularity and a World Cup was established in 1989, and was soon followed by the first World Championships in 1991. International competitions are held in the three different disciplines - lead, bouldering, and speed -, with an additional combined event of the three. In lead, the competitors have one try to find their way to the top by climbing a long and difficult route with different kinds of climbing problems. They have to use a dynamic rope, which they have to fix into quickdraws while going higher. In bouldering, the competitors have to climb short walls without a rope and they can try as often as possible within a time limit. There can be different boulders built up next to each other and climbers can go on with the next after successfully overcoming one boulder. In both lead and bouldering, the climbers are not allowed to see the other competitors, and they are not allowed to receive any outside advice once the event has started. This means that all athletes have the same climb with the same requirements, meaning a competitor with a later starting time does not have any advantage. In speed, the participants have to climb a standard 15-metre wall with a slight overhang, and they do this head-to-head. They are secured with a top rope and have to touch a switch on top to determine the time. In the speed qualification round, every athlete had the possibility to climb both lanes with only the better time counting. These were followed by final knock-out rounds. In the combined event, the place figures were multiplied to determine the winner with the lowest score.

The first World Cup in 1989 saw only lead, while speed and combined were added in 1998, and bouldering the following year. The World Championships started in 1991 with lead and speed, with bouldering being added in 2001, and combined in 2012. The first European championships were held in 1992 with lead and speed. Bouldering was added in 2002, and combined in 2015.

An important step towards Olympic status was the creation of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) in 2007. Prior to that, the International Council for Competition Climbing, as part of the Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme, controlled the sport. The IFSC got provisional recognition on 2007 and was fully recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2010. In 2021 the IFSC had more than 70 members from all continents.

The qualification for Tokyo started with the 2019 World Championships and should have ended with the Asian Championships in May 2020 but, after the postponement of the Games, and also of some of the regional tournaments, the final event was the Oceania Championships held in December 2020.

In total, 20 athletes per gender participated in Tokyo with 18 of the places awarded according to the qualification, one given to the host Japan and one given through a Tripartite Commission invitation to athletes from nations who had only seven or fewer participants in individual events in the last two Summer Olympics. The first seven spots went to the top seven finishers from different nations at the 2019 World Championships. The next six spots were awarded to the top six finishers of a special qualification tournament held in Toulouse (FRA) in November 2019. Another four spots went to the best placed, not already qualified athletes, from the Pan American, African, European, and Oceania Championships. As the Asian Championships had been cancelled because of travelling restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also because the Tripartite Commission did not name an athlete by the deadline at the end of March 2020, the remaining two spots were re-allocated.

Eventually, 19 different NOCs competed in Tokyo, with France, Japan, and the United States all having two athletes per gender. Five different NOCs won medals and it was Spain who won the first ever Olympic gold medal with Alberto Ginés in the men’s event, while Slovenia won the first women’s event thanks to Janja Garnbret. Japan was the only country to win two medals with silver and bronze in the women’s event. The Games also saw a new world record in speed set by Aleksandra Mirosław with 6.84 during the final.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Combined, Men Olympic 3 – 5 August 2021 20 15
Combined, Women Olympic 4 – 6 August 2021 20 15
40 (20/20) 19 (15/15)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Combined, Men Alberto GinésESP Nathaniel ColemanUSA Jakob SchubertAUT
Combined, Women Janja GarnbretSLO Miho NonakaJPN Akiyo NoguchiJPN

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Slovenia SLO 1 0 0 1
Spain ESP 1 0 0 1
Japan JPN 0 1 1 2
United States USA 0 1 0 1
Austria AUT 0 0 1 1