Here’s How Climbing Actually Works At The Olympics

How will the competition work?

Climbing is carried out in two rounds for men and women: a qualification and a final. On August 3, 20 men will compete in qualifications that include speed climbing, bouldering and lead climbing with breaks between the disciplines. Eight of this round will advance to the final on August 5th. The women’s competition will start on August 4th and again 20 female athletes will compete against each other in the three disciplines on one day. The top eight will also reach the finals on August 6th.

How do the three disciplines work?

In climbing, each of the three disciplines – speed climbing, bouldering and lead climbing – is viewed as an independent event. A climber can take part in one or choose all three, it just depends on his preferences. Regardless of this, there is a winner for each category, whereby his performance in one discipline has no influence on the placement in another discipline.

At the Olympics, however, it won’t quite work that way. Instead, the Olympics are a composite format that tracks the athlete’s cumulative performance in all three disciplines. This has been heavily criticized because for most climbers it doesn’t necessarily mean they are good at one discipline, another. It’s like asking a marathon runner to run over 100 meters. In view of the criticism, climbing was confirmed for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where two sets of medals are awarded per gender: one for speed climbing and one for lead climbing / bouldering. But this is how the combination of disciplines works for Tokyo 2020.

Speed ​​climbing will take place on a standardized 15m route that uses the same holds and layout every time, so climbers can practice on the exact route they will be taking all year round. It is done with a rope and the goal is to get from the bottom to the top as quickly as possible. At the Olympic Games, it is held as a bracket tournament in which two climbers head to head against each other to advance to the next round until a winner is determined. Interestingly, the Olympics decided that a false start (where an athlete leaves the ground before the start buzzer) leads to immediate disqualification.

Bouldering will be on a 4.5m wall with a number of bouldering issues, four in qualifying and three in the final. When climbing without a rope, participants have four minutes to complete one task and then take a short break before moving on to the next task. Having never seen these problems before, athletes can make multiple attempts during the four-minute time limit. The grips, wall angles, and movements will be different for each boulder, based on technical sequences and parkour-style gymnastics. Points are awarded for reaching the top of each boulder and reaching the target grip with both hands while maintaining control. If the climber cannot reach the summit, points are awarded for reaching the marked “Zone” stop about halfway up.

Each climber’s score is as follows: 2T 2Z, which means she has made two top holds and two zone holds. In the event of a tie after the determination of the results, the number of attempts for each top hold or the number of attempts for each zone hold is taken into account, with the athlete who has made fewer attempts being awarded the higher rank.

Lead takes place on a 15 m long wall with a unique route that the athletes have no prior knowledge of. Athletes are given a six-minute prior session to see the route before the competition begins. The lead discipline uses a rope and requires the climber to develop technical motion sequences and to have the stamina to stay on the wall for a longer period of time. With a total of 40 to 60 holds, each hold is worth one point and climbers only have one attempt. If they fall, their turn is over. The highest number of points is placed in 1st place, the second highest in 2nd place, and so on. A tie is broken by giving the better rank to the person who climbed the same grip faster.

How is a medal winner determined?

The combined format for the Olympic Games means that every climber must participate in all three disciplines at the same time. You are given a ranking list for each, then these are added together to determine a final number. The lowest total then wins gold. For example, if you finish 1st in bouldering, 4th in lead and 18th in speed. Place occupied, receives a score of 1 x 4 x 18 = 72.

If you want to try climbing with all that climbing, check out our roundup of the best indoor climbing facilities below.

The 10 best indoor climbing gyms in Sydney

source https://livehealthynews.com/heres-how-climbing-actually-works-at-the-olympics/