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News for the Games of the Tokyo Olympic
- 2021-08-03 15:39:48
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Medal Count of Games
New climbing routes debutingThe climbing routes debuting at the Tokyo Games have never been seen before. The eccentric architects behind the Olympic debut of sport climbing are responsible for putting on a good show, and a fair competition.To win the first Olympic Medal in climbing, athletes must master three disciplines: speed, bouldering and lead.They will be created by an elite group of route setters — athletes behind the Olympic climbers who are responsible for putting on a good show and a fair competition. Route setting is an art form with high stakes. “I have huge respect for competition setters. Their job is never easy,” said Kyra Condie, one of four U.S. climbers competing in Tokyo. “They get the brunt of the frustration when a round doesn’t turn out how athletes hoped.”The speed walls have a consistent route up a standardized 15-meter wall. The boulder climb is a short, ropeless ascent over mats. The lead climb is perhaps the most recognizable: a higher climb where athletes are attached to a harness and long ropes. No two boulder or lead climbs are the same; the variables for hold shapes, positions and orientations are infinite, and the challenges differ in each round.It’s tricky for setters to respectfully test the skills of a world-beating lead climber like Adam Ondra and the talents of a speed specialist on one route. Finding the middle ground is not natural for climbers. But setters must seek the balance point. “We’re not paid to be nice to athletes, but if they can’t make progress, we’ve gone wrong,” said Percy Bishton, the chief setter at the Tokyo Olympics. “Nobody wants to watch climbers who can’t get off the floor.”To gauge the level of the world’s best, setters climb with the best. Athletes often work as commercial setters, and some setters are former competitors. Setters invent new movements and compose complex sequences. Over time, some become easy to decipher. Occasionally, athletes find overlooked solutions. From run-and-jumps to gibbonlike leaps, tiptoe teetering to awkward contortion, moves are added to the setters’ playbook and athletes’ repertoires. But the physicality of setting is juxtaposed with a cerebral aspect. “There’s an artistic element, and many of us also have an analytical, engineering side,” said Bishton, who is also a woodworker. Boulder climbs are called problems — they require solving, like a game of vertical Twister. Setters ruminate on movements, visualize sequences and contemplate the myriad ways athletes might climb. Part pacers, part puppeteers, they aim to be one step ahead, manipulating minds and muscles.
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