Climbing officially an Olympic sport

Russ Keane wrote:I don't like the further glorification of indoor climbing. It's not a representation of true rock climbing.

Where did you get the idea it was intended to be a "representation of true rock climbing" (whatever that is)?

skateboarding? Surfing? baseball/softball? When it comes to the Olympic heritage, I like the running jumping swimming type things that just about every country in the world can do/work on/participate. The continuous addition of western sports doesn't much interest me.

Adam Stackhouse wrote:skateboarding? Surfing? baseball/softball? When it comes to the Olympic heritage, I like the running jumping swimming type things that just about every country in the world can do/work on/participate. The continuous addition of western sports doesn't much interest me.

Not the first time for baseball and softball:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseb…

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softb…

Surf lifesaving was a demo sport in 1990, and surfing has a world wide following and participation at the World Cup level.

Karate is also one of the 5 added sports - hardly a "western sport".

It's not so much adding western sports but appealing to a younger audience. From a BBC article about the new sports:

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The IOC said it hopes the "innovative" move will draw in new audiences by focusing inclusions on youth-oriented sports.

"We want to take sport to the youth," said IOC president Thomas Bach.

"With the many options that young people have, we cannot expect any more that they will come automatically to us. We have to go to them."
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Regarding climbing, the article says [with an incorrect description I removed]:

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It is seen as the "most innovative" of the new sports by the IOC,
[snip]
According to the International Federation of Sport Climbing, more than 140 countries have climbing walls, with 35 million climbers around the world.
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"Where did you get the idea it was intended to be a "representation of true rock climbing" (whatever that is)?"

Well, why was indoor climbing invented in the first place? To mock/simulate outdoor climbing.

A lot of people already confuse indoor climbing with real/outdoor climbing. If it reaches the status of an Olympic sport, and billions of people watch, that association will be that much stronger.

It would be ultra-cool to watch real rock climbing at the Olympics. But a bunch of people pulling plastic? No thanks. And you know they will call it "rock climbing".

don'tchuffonme wrote:Someone has to be the "asshole" and say what most of us are thinking anyway but aren't saying because they don't want to be "that guy". Bingo. Couldn't agree more. Let's see... who benefits most from "growing the sport"? Is it the general climbing population of passionate, unsponsored people that have dedicated years of their life to it? Nope. People like that get: More crowds of clueless gumbies attempting to obliviously kill themselves More erosion More litter More hammocks and boomboxes More turds right next to approach trails More waiting while someone that can't get ten feet off the ground ties up routes for hours on top ropes. All this equals more negative visibility and a greater threat to access. You can say whatever you want, but if you get out a lot, especially to popular spots, then it is certainly the case. The typical response is "climb harder and you won't have that problem" or "be a steward, teach them". Well, fuck that. First of all, it doesn't matter if you climb .13s if the warmup wall right next to you is chock full of dipshit nooblets with no respect for anyone and treat the crag like a goddamned tailgate party. And be a steward. Yeah. So some dickhead kid that just got his belay tag yesterday can tell me "it's no big deal, bro." Follow the money. Who benefits from "growing the sport"? Hmmm... well let's see. Gyms. Gear manufacturers. Technical clothing manufacturers. Pro climbers who now are starting to see the financial fruition of all their years of hard work. No. There are no pros for the overwhelming majority of the climbing community in the U.S. Just for the entities mentioned above. Advocates for keeping our cliffs clean. Right. That's utter bullshit. The last two years I've seen more litter than ever. More people makes the problem worse. More money filtered into areas- that's iffy. The only positive I can see is maybe more money raised for rebolting efforts. But you know what else gym gumbies don't do? They don't embrace the culture. They're not humble. And they sure as fuck don't give to their local climbing coalitions. Don't believe me? Go ask any first year or even in some cases second or third year climber that lives primarily in the gym and does half a dozen trips outside a year; ask them who their local climbing coalition is. Ask them if they're Access Fund members. Ask them if they give back in any way. The answer you'll get most of the time is "no". Toilets- yes. I'm sure that's the answer. Know what we wouldn't need if there weren't umpteen million dickbag meatsacks out there that don't really belong? More fucking toilets. I mean for fuck's sake, we had to start the "Rock Project" to educate these morons to not do the basic shit that every climber knows not to do. Litter. Hog routes with endless top rope rides. Litter. Shit where people walk and can smell it. What ever did people do before shitters at the crag? They walked a few hundred feet away and dug a goddamned hole. That's what. More money for R&D? For what? Are your shoes not sticky enough? Do your $110 Ultralights weigh too much? Your 30gram biners too heavy? The technology is fine. It does very little for climbing, and it only increases the cost of gear over time. Idk about you but between education and health care, I'm not super psyched about the price of anything else skyrocketing. More money in the outdoor industry to be fed back into the community. WHAT. IN. THE. FUCK. ARE. YOU. TALKING. ABOUT? Yay. BD made it available to get the MP app for free. Is this the money that's being fed back in? Don't fool yourself. These companies are making money hand over fist now. Prices are constantly increasing. You know what's not? American's wages across the board. Oh, and climbing time isn't either. Good luck finding camping at quality destinations and getting on a warmup route.

this times 10.

Russ Keane wrote:Well, why was indoor climbing invented in the first place? To mock/simulate outdoor climbing.

How did technical rock climbing came to be? People used it to train for mountaineering objectives. How about archery, javalin, boxing (or any martial arts), wrestling, marathon running, swimming, etc, etc?

Once people pursuit an endeavor as the end, it doesn't really matter how something got started.

Craig Childre wrote:Who paid for the whores one needs to bribe the Olympic Committe?

Anything that is going to get eyeballs on the televised portion of the games is going to be pimped out. The TV rights is the money. They don't actually give a shit about tradition or any of that.

Stich wrote: Anything that is going to get eyeballs on the televised portion of the games is going to be pimped out. The TV rights is the money. They don't actually give a shit about tradition or any of that.

....and to spend billions on facilities that will be rarely used much less capitalize on the "investment."

When the luge was added to the olympics I hope someone jumped up and said "Now all the f***ing gumbies are gonna be clogging up the sled track!"

Brandon.Phillips wrote:When the luge was added to the olympics I hope someone jumped up and said "Now all the f***ing gumbies are gonna be clogging up the sled track!"

Luge gumbies But Luge Gumbies are real!

Adam Stackhouse wrote: ....and to spend billions on facilities that will be rarely used much less capitalize on the "investment."

140 countries with climbing walls, estimated 35M climbers worldwide, according to the BBC article I quoted earlier.

sandiegouniontribune.com/ne…

R. Moran wrote:Ninja Warrior is probably a bigger threat to blowing up climbing into the main stream.

That is no lie

climbing friend,

I GO to olympic games!

I WIN the gold medal!

I am crushing in climbing battle flash-off those small anorexic child who win the competition!

I hear the lamentations of their parents, and see them driven before me!

Adam Stackhouse wrote: ....and to spend billions on facilities that will be rarely used much less capitalize on the "investment."

How much they are used depends on how well organized and funded the organizing committee is. Salt Lake City spent the millions on facilities and most of them are used every day even now 14 years later. There are 9 sheets of ice where there once were 2 and ski jumpers and sliders come here to train and compete year round. I can go pay $6 and play pickup ice hockey any day of the week and have multiple rec leagues to choose from.

The Salt Lake Organizing Committee planned for this though and left money from the games in a trust to run programs and maintain facilities along with some zoo arts and parks taxes. The investment all depends on how much money the organizers are willing to not take and run with. . . If there's any at all left over. I was a hater on the SLC Olympics. Now I'm stoked my kids and I get to use the facilities. And I've made a lot of good new friends with the "hordes" of people that saw how cool SLC is and moved here.

Why make an Olympic competition of the "fake" version of the real sport?

Other examples:
- gold medal for treadmill running
- gold medal for NBA2K
- gold medal for roller hockey

etc.

From what I see at the crags, anti doping and climbing are incompatible.

Rick Blair wrote:From what I see at the crags, anti doping and climbing are incompatible.

According to the Olympic committee weed is not a performance enhancing substance. . . Just an enjoyment enhancing substance.

Quinn Baker wrote:Surfing is becoming an Olympic sport, but I doubt surfers are worried about a bunch of kooks crowding up their local spots.

Maybe surfing has already reached that point. outsideonline.com/2070371/d…

Russ Keane wrote:Why make an Olympic competition of the "fake" version of the real sport? Other examples: - gold medal for treadmill running - gold medal for NBA2K - gold medal for roller hockey etc.

Competitions started out on real rock, but resulted in the rock being excessively altered. Real rock just isn't that practical when organizing a competition. Many Olympic sports are conducted in a similar manner. Swimming events are in a pool, running events are on a track, skiing is done on a groomed course, weightlifting is done with metal plates and a barbell instead of a giant boulder.

Russ Keane wrote:And you know they will call it "rock climbing".

I'd actually be surprised if they did. Most of the news articles simply refer to it as climbing. Check out the websites of most of the indoor competition series-you probably won't see any references to "rock" climbing competitions, just sport and bouldering climbing comps.

Not sure I agree with all the doom and gloom types on here. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an increase in climbers at the gym, but there are plenty of gym climbers who have no interest in ever going outside. There's definitely no guarantee that you will experience access issues at the crags. There's another side of this that everyone is overlooking as well. Despite how mainstream we think climbing is there are still a lot of people who know very little about it. I've been climbing for over a decade now, but relatives always think that I'm being totally irresponsible and playing Russian roulette every time I go out. Their impression of climbing is the opening scene of Cliffhanger. Seeing climbing in the Olympics will probably help to legitimize it in the eyes of people who have no exposure to it (even more beneficial if these people are land managers or policy makers).

climbing friend!

YOU will GET OFF my lawn!