Imagine your body is a puzzle, and a 50-foot wall is the lock. Your fingers, toes, and brain are the only keys. You leap, swing, and stretch, defying gravity with every move. This isn’t a scene from a superhero movie; it’s Olympic sport climbing, one of the most exciting and newest additions to the Summer Games. Get ready to learn about the three unique disciplines—bouldering, lead, and speed—that test the limits of human strength, agility, and problem-solving. By the time you’re done, you’ll be able to watch the Olympics and understand exactly what’s happening as these incredible athletes dance their way up the wall.
Sport climbing is an evolution of rock climbing that takes place on artificial walls. The main objective is to ascend a route, but how you win depends on the discipline. The sport as we know it today began in the 1980s with the first organized competition held on a natural rock face in Italy. To make it more accessible and environmentally friendly, competitions soon moved to artificial walls. After a successful debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, its popularity has exploded, and it returns with a new format for the Paris 2024 Games, cementing its place as a must-watch Olympic event.
So what do you need to become a human spider? The essential gear includes specially designed climbing shoes with a sticky rubber sole for gripping the tiniest of holds, a harness to safely attach to the rope in lead and speed climbing, and a chalk bag to keep your hands dry for maximum grip. A helmet is also a crucial piece of safety equipment. The arena, or “climbing gym,” features different walls for each discipline. Bouldering walls are short, around 15 feet tall (about the height of a one-story house), with thick crash pads below for safety since climbers don’t use ropes. The lead and speed walls are much taller, towering up to 50 feet, or roughly the height of a five-story building.
The rules of sport climbing are broken down into its three disciplines:
How to Play: In bouldering, athletes tackle a series of short, tricky climbing routes called “boulder problems” without ropes. They have a set amount of time to solve each problem, and it’s as much a mental challenge as a physical one. Lead climbing is an endurance test. Climbers have one attempt to get as high as they can on a 50-foot wall within a six-minute time limit. As they ascend, they must clip their rope into a series of pre-placed carabiners called quickdraws. In speed climbing, it’s a simple, explosive race to the top. Two climbers go head-to-head on identical 15-meter routes, and the first one to hit the buzzer at the top wins.
Scoring: In bouldering, athletes earn points by reaching specific “zone” holds and for getting both hands on the final “top” hold. The climber with the most tops and zones in the fewest attempts wins. For lead climbing, each hold on the upper part of the route has a point value, and the higher you climb, the more points you get. The top hold is worth 100 points. In speed climbing, scoring is simple: it’s all about your time. The fastest climber wins.
Key Rules: In bouldering, climbers are not allowed to see the problems before the competition begins. In lead, failing to clip the rope into a quickdraw means your climb is over from that point. In speed climbing, a false start (leaving the starting pad too early) results in a disqualification for that race.
Game Format: For the Paris 2024 Olympics, there are two separate events. Speed climbing is a standalone event with its own medal. Bouldering and lead are combined into a single event, with athletes’ scores from both disciplines added together to determine the winner.
To talk the talk, here are some essential terms:
- Beta: Advice on how to climb a route.
- Boulder Problem: A short, challenging route on a bouldering wall.
- Crux: The most difficult part of a climb.
- Dyno: A dynamic, jumping move to grab a hold that is out of reach.
- Flash: Completing a boulder problem on the first try.
- On-sight: Completing a lead climb on the first attempt without any prior information about the route.
- Send: To successfully complete a climb.
- Quickdraw: Two carabiners connected by a short sling, used in lead climbing to attach the rope to the wall.
- Belay: The technique of securing a climber with a rope.
What makes sport climbing so thrilling to watch is the incredible combination of raw power, delicate balance, and creative problem-solving. In bouldering, you’ll witness athletes perform mind-bending moves and solve complex physical puzzles in real-time. Lead climbing is a slow burn of suspense, where every move could be the one that makes or breaks the climb. And speed climbing is a breathtaking, all-out sprint where world records can be broken in a matter of seconds. Keep an eye out for the incredible finger strength of the climbers and the unique ways they use their bodies to overcome the most difficult sections of the wall.
Sport climbing is the ultimate test of an athlete’s physical and mental prowess. It combines the grace of a gymnast, the problem-solving of a chess master, and the power of a weightlifter. So, when you tune into the Olympics, you’ll now be able to appreciate the incredible skill and dedication it takes to conquer the wall.