Why the Olympics will not have a sustainable impact on the publicity of rock climbing
One thing that members of the climbing community seem to all agree on is the notion that the sport is reaching an unprecedented level of visibility. Professional climbers, such as Chris Sharma and Margo Hayes, are being hired as stunt doubles and models and popular companies, including Adidas and ESPN, are interacting with entities like Five Ten and USA Climbing.
“We’re starting to see climbing being recognized as this actual, real sport instead of this fringe thing it’s been viewed as for so long,” said Colorado State University Climbing Head Coach Andrew Lee.
As climbing in the media increases, so does accessibility to the sport.
According to Climbing Business Journal, “While the gym growth rate declined in 2019, in 2020 that figure is expected to reach the highest level yet. Seventy-five new gyms are planned to open in the U.S. in 2020.”
Although many acknowledge this accelerated growth, the source of it all is debated.
“I think things like the film Free Solo and just climbing becoming a more mainstream appearance in marketing and media has a way bigger impact on the visibility of the sport than the Olympics,” said Lee.
In contrast, Chicago’s First Ascent Climbing and Fitness Co-Founder and Climbing Coach Dave Hudson wrote in a Rock and Ice Op-Ed article “… there is no question that bringing climbing to the international arena on the Olympic level will bring new attention to the sport.”
The crux of the debate lies in whether the influx in media attention surrounding the Olympics will be short-lived or this prestigious competition will truly change the future of the sport.
“I feel like there will be an explosion of popularity immediately following the Olympics,” said Colorado State University Climbing Coach Jake Gadwa. “And then at some point, it’s gonna plateau or it’s gonna reach that point where the industry is gonna come crashing down because there just won’t be enough people to sustain the massive growth. Or the next big thing will supplant it.”
If it’s true that history repeats itself, the X Games is a perfect example of how the introduction of climbing in the Olympics could go.
“Climbing used to be in the X Games like way back when in the 90s,” said Lee. “It had relatively no impact on the industry, it wasn’t that popular in the X Games and died out.”
With all the extreme sports, one would think rock climbing would fit into the X Games wonderfully. Actually, it would at this point in time. The issue was that in 1995, when sport climbing was added to the X Games, the sport was largely inaccessible, explained Lee. There weren’t many climbing gyms where people could learn how to climb and outside climbing requires more experience and gear.
In the Olympics, a lack of accessibility will not prevent climbing from gaining popularity. The new barrier is the combined format of the Olympic climbing event.
“It [the combined format] is hard to understand for the climber. It’s even harder to understand for the non-climbing audience,” said Andrew Lee.
In the pre-Olympic competitive climbing world, athletes typically specialize in one of the three disciplines: bouldering, sport or speed climbing.
According to Climbing Magazine writer John Burgman, “The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), the international governing body for the sport of competitive climbing, was only given a single set of medals to award the [Olympic] winners.”
Due to a lack of medals, the IFSC had to choose one discipline or include all disciplines in a combined format for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Although the idea of having a climbing equivalent to swimming’s individual medley (I.M.) could be intriguing, the scoring will make it less so.
Competitors will earn scores in each discipline which will be multiplied to a final score and the man and woman with the lowest score will win. As opposed to adding, multiplying the three scores will reward those who are really good at one discipline rather than being the most well-rounded.
With a primarily non-climbing audience watching a combined format climbing competition filled with climbers who are only really focused on one discipline, the Olympics isn’t going to make climbing look cool.
“The reality is, you know, we’ll probably get some TV time but it’s not gonna be a lot, it’s probably just gonna be a quick recap that’s gonna flash across people’s screens,” said Lee. “So the impact is ‘oh climbing is in the Olympics, that’s cool’ and that’s kind of the extent of the impact.”
Despite the fact that the Olympics may not become a major factor in increasing the popularity of rock climbing, it is indisputable that the sport’s induction into the renowned competition will provide a new goal for competitive climbers worldwide.
