When you think of the Olympics, images of swimming and athletics events are doubtlessly conjured up in your mind. But there’s actually 32 sports at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and that number is only increasing.
Recently, the International Olympic Committee has attempted to broaden the Olympics’ appeal to reel in a younger audience. Part of their strategy involves the inclusion of more ‘urban’ sports, like skateboarding, breaking and BMX freestyle. One such urban sport is sport climbing, which has returned for its second Olympics at Paris 2024.
Far from a casual bit of exercise at your local bouldering gym, Olympic sport climbing is a cutthroat sport that requires immense physical and mental acuity. It can all be fairly confusing though, if you’re not familiar with the rules, regulations and lingo – like why are the obstacle courses the athletes climb called ‘problems?’ Don’t worry, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about sport climbing, so you can impress your unsuspecting friends with your knowledge when tuning in.
How long has sport climbing been at the Olympics?
Sport climbing has existed as a sport since the 1980s, when a few rock climbers decided they wanted to make their favourite hobby a little bit safer and less influenced by weather conditions. Climbing started gaining popularity and competitions began popping up, until it finally became an Olympic sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
At the sport’s debut in Tokyo, athletes from Spain and Slovenia won gold in the men’s and women’s events in highly competitive fields. Judging by the fact that sport climbing was chosen to stay on the Olympic program for Paris 2024, we can consider its debut a success, as baseball, softball and karate were all not chosen to return after Tokyo.
How does sport climbing work?
In case you’re unfamiliar with the rules, sport climbing is typically split into three distinct disciplines: speed, boulder and lead. At Tokyo 2020, all three were combined into a single event, but at Paris 2024, speed has been granted its own event, while boulder and lead remain combined.
In bouldering, the goal is to scale multiple challenging routes known as ‘problems’ (so-called because they present a problem that needs to be solved). Problems are usually around 4.5 metres tall and points are awarded for how long and how many attempts it takes a climber to solve them. As Australian climber Campbell Harrison explained to Men’s Health, “Every round it’s a completely new course that has been created [by a ‘route setter’]. Much of the result hinges on the route setting – it has to be this really sustained or gradual increase in difficulty.”
Lead revolves around a similar concept, except the emphasis here is on endurance. In lead, full courses are 15 metres tall and climbers might not necessarily get to the top. Instead, the aim is to progress as far as possible within six minutes. Points are awarded based on progression and problems solved, not completion or time taken.
At the Olympics, athletes competing in the boulder and lead combined event will complete segments in both disciplines before their scores are tabulated and the top climbers advance to the final.
Speed is the climbing discipline that has split off from the rest, being granted it’s own standalone event at Paris 2024. The aim here is to simply scale a 15-metre wall with a five degree incline as fast as possible. Upon reading that description, it might sound like this event could take some time to complete, but the best climbers can reach the top in less than five seconds. It’s also a head-to-head battle, where climbers face off and the slowest to reach the top is eliminated.
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What’s the most important sport climbing terminology to know?
- Hold – any part of the course that can be grabbed or used for climbing.
- Problem – a sequence of holds or obstacles a climber has to pass to complete a route.
- Zone – a segment within a problem. Each problem typically contains two zones, a high zone and a low zone.
- Crimp – a very small hold where there’s usually only enough room for fingers or toes to grip.
- Jug – a large hold that is easy to grab and has plenty of room.
- Sloper – a downward-facing hold that can be difficult to grasp.
- Crux – the most difficult part of a climb and where most climbers will fail or fall.
- Dyno – a technique that involves leaping from one hold to another with all four limbs not holding onto anything.
Who is Oceana Mackenzie?
Oceana Mackenzie is one of two Australian athletes who have qualified for sport climbing events at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the other being Campbell Harrison. Mackenzie competes in the boulder and lead event, and having completed the boulder section in fourth place, she has a chance at winning Australia’s first ever medal in the sport.
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When is sport climbing on at the Olympics?
The first sport climbing events in speed and boulder and lead have already begun, across both the men’s and women’s competitions. Here’s a look at what the remaining schedule looks like, with all dates and times relevant to AEST:
- Men’s boulder and lead, lead semifinal – August 7th, 6:00pm
- Women’s speed, quarterfinals – August 7th, 8:35pm
- Women’s speed, semifinals – August 7th, 8:46pm
- Women’s speed, final – August 7th, 8:54pm
- Women’s boulder and lead, lead semifinal – August 8th, 6:00pm
- Men’s speed, quarterfinals – August 8th, 8:35pm
- Men’s speed, semifinals – August 8th, 8:46pm
- Men’s speed, final – August 8th, 8:54pm
- Men’s boulder and lead, final boulder – August 9th, 6:15pm
- Men’s boulder and lead, final lead – August 9th, 8:35pm
- Women’s boulder and lead, final boulder – August 10th, 6:15pm
- Women’s boulder and lead, final lead – August 10th, 8:35pm
Where can you watch sport climbing at the Olympics?
Channel Nine holds the broadcasting rights to the 2024 Paris Olympics, so you can watch most of the sport climbing action live on Nine and its various subchannels, or stream it on 9Now. Sport climbing can also be streamed live and on demand on Stan.
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