Sport Climbing: One Step Closer

For those who were passionately supporting the inclusion of wushu or bowling into the 2020 Olympics, the decision of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee yesterday must have driven you up the wall.

The five new sports recommended for 2020 in Tokyo includes – sport climbing!

Ashima Shiraishi
Ashima Shiraishi

Sport climbing, which is a series of fixed anchors and bolts on a wall or a rock face, has become very popular over the past two decades. The International Federation of Sports Climbers (IFSC), the international governing body recognized by the IOC, decided to submit sport climbing as a triple challenge, which combines three climbing disciplines into one: bouldering, sport climbing, and speed climbing.

Watch this video for an explanation, and more.

Sport climbing has been embraced by the young, which is one of the major reasons why it is being recommended. The New York Times featured the then nine-year-old child of Japanese parents living in New York named Ashima Shiraishi. And according to her coach at the time, she was the best. She is 14 now and still a powerhouse. In 5 years, she could be an Olympic champion, in Tokyo, in 2020.