Sport Climbing

Sport climbing, as opposed to Alpinism, is a sport testing how fast or how far athletes may ascend vertical walls, usually done indoors on specially designed climbing walls.

At the 129th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Rio de Janeiro, in 2016, sport climbing was approved as a new sport for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with a single combined event for both men and women. This combined event included three sport climbing elements: speed, bouldering and lead. At the time of its inclusion on the Olympic Programme for 2020, sport climbing was joined by the new sports of karate, skateboarding, and surfing.

Sport climbing remained on the Olympic Programme for Paris 2024, as an optional sport for the host city. This time, there were two events for men and women: a speed event, and a combined bouldering and lead event. Los Angeles 2028 will introduce new changes to the programme, including the permanent addition of skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing as core Olympic sports.

As of 2024, six countries have won two or more medals in Olympic sport climbing, but Slovenia is the only nation with two gold medals. These two golds have been won by the same athlete, Janja Garnbret, who is also the only female climber with two Olympic medals. Austrian Jakob Schubert is the only male climber with two medals, but none gold.

Sport climbing is governed internationally by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), which separated from the Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme (UIAA) in 2007. As of 2024, IFSC had 99 affiliated national federations. World Championships in sport climbing have been held since 1991, and a World Cup circuit has been contested since 2007.