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wongwong
Mar 22, 2004, 10:45 PM
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I read the article in the last Climbing (or R&I, can't remember) about competition climbing and the steps that need to be taken to make climbing an olympic sport. The article seemed to take it as a given that this would be a positive step for climbing, but I am not so sure. Also, is climbing an exciting enough spectator sport (for non-climbers) to warrant its inclusion in the olympics? Any thoughts?
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atg200
Mar 22, 2004, 10:47 PM
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god i hope not.
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perozee
Mar 22, 2004, 10:56 PM
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I hear that people want to see bridge(the card game) become an Olympic sport. Well if bridge can be accepted as an Olympic sport than certainly climbing has its place.
Exciting enough to watch o TV anyway...
I'm afraid of what the result would be on the sport. We can assume that it would generate more interest and therefore we would see more climbers out there on the rocks. I don't know about you guys, but in my area there are already plenty of people waiting in line for rock...
One of the reasons I climb is to get away from people. I don't want to see the sport of climbing become something like alpine skiing(1 million posers on the slopes).
Later
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miuralover
Mar 22, 2004, 11:11 PM
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While the ICC (International Council for Competition Climbing) wants climbing to become an olympic sport the IOC (International olympic committee) is quite hesitant. There are numerous reasons that I have heard why the IOC doesn't want climbing and all this is hearsay so believe it if you want but don't quote me. The olympics are getting too big and the IOC doesn't want the olympics to run for two weeks as they already do. More events means more tv spots but the networks are already complaining that a two week interuption is alot.
Something of interest is that climbing will be int the world games in germany next year so we'll see what happens from that.
Check out www.uiaa.ch for the latest news.http://www.uiaa.ch/
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chronicle
Mar 22, 2004, 11:35 PM
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I know of US Climbing wants it to become an Olympic sport. Honestly, I think it would have a very negative effect on the sport and the crags.
I hope the IOC puts their foot down and says, we are not making any more sports into Olympic sports. There are already several that boggle my mind.
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rockprodigy
Mar 22, 2004, 11:54 PM
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It seems to me that competition climbing is so far removed from rock climbing, that it would have little positive effect on our sport. Usually you would think that Olympic level exposure would encourage improvements in the sport, but these days, climbers who compete are so specialized in that area, they don't climb on the rock much, if it all.
As for me personally, I'm kinda hoping it becomes an olympic sport, because then the military will let me train full time for climbing. I have a friend who has spent two years training full time for RACE WALKING!!! He's getting his full Captain's salaray (about $50K/yr) to walk real fast around a track, and stretch, and stuff like that...and all you taxpayers are footing the bill...how's that for a boondoggle!
If you're waiting in line for rock, you should move. I bolted an entire crag here in Utah that nobody climbs at because they're too lazy to hike for 30 minutes. We have tons of rock...it will never be too crowded.
I can assure you there are plenty of Olympic sports that are more boring than climbing.
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asandh
Mar 23, 2004, 12:05 AM
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:)
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madriver
Mar 23, 2004, 12:13 AM
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asandh wrote:
In reply to: Let me guess ...... everyone involved in this thread so far has been climbing less than 4 years. For those of us who have been around a while, I mean grew up as trad climbers before sport climbing or gyms were anything, we looked on in horror as the over bolted routes and crowded gyms came on line. The sport has already been ruined so adding it to the Olympics won't change much.
...yes...less than 4 years...but why do you think gyms and sport have ruined climbing?
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asandh
Mar 23, 2004, 12:23 AM
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:?
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danokow
Mar 23, 2004, 12:29 AM
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i think i found my thesis. :D
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danokow
Mar 23, 2004, 12:31 AM
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does anyone know what exact magazine this article was in and even month or issue number?
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usaclimbing
Mar 23, 2004, 12:52 AM
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In reply to: Usually you would think that Olympic level exposure would encourage improvements in the sport, but these days, climbers who compete are so specialized in that area, they don't climb on the rock much, if it all.
do you honestly believe this? have you looked at who competes and what they climb outside? how about this:
Ramón Julián: .15a, a few .14d's and god knows how many things easier than that
Sandrine Levet: pulls mad hard
Jérôme Meyer: tons of v12's-14
Christian Core: v12+
Emilie Harrington: .13's and .12's on gear
Liz Sansoz: .14c
Lisa Rands: v11+
Sean McColl: 5.14+ (youngest north american to ever go .14)
Daniel Woods: Youngers American to do 5.14, v11+
Edu Marin: 5.14d at 17 years old
and those are just the ones off the top of my head.
speicalize in competitions... right!!!
oh, and its in this months climbing, or last.... i think its this months though
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atg200
Mar 23, 2004, 12:55 AM
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In reply to: Let me guess ...... everyone involved in this thread so far has been climbing less than 4 years.
10 years and counting...
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madriver
Mar 23, 2004, 1:08 AM
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asandh wrote:
In reply to: madriver: I think you missed my point. Go back and read between my lines. Everyone Always thinks those that come after them ruin something. Funny thing, life goes on and its no big deal.
..I ask becuase I am interested. I am new to climbing...a clean slate if you will. In the two plus years of trying to climb and watching my kid climb, I have learned that the sport is very polarized. The "old skewl" vs. "new". I stand on the sidelines and try to get a read on the "flow"...the different views...the good and the bad. It's all good to me, but like everything I respect the people who have been around the world of climbing longer than I have. So I am interested in the different perspectives of where the sport is headed and why.
I am fascinated by the disdane of Boulders vs. Traddies vs. sporto's. For me it's all climbing and all very different and all great. I doubt the Olympics will entertain climbing as a venue any time soon. But I don't think I have a problem if and when it becomes one.
2- 1/2 cents
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usaclimbing
Mar 23, 2004, 1:24 AM
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eight and a half years climbing.... and 6 competing as a junior, 3 as an adult
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jgill
Mar 23, 2004, 1:27 AM
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World Games, Olympics, etc. It will happen in one or more of these venues, but it won't make any difference to the majority of climbers. How many fishermen yearn only to win fishing competitions? 8)
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slablizard
Mar 23, 2004, 1:42 AM
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bullfighting? :lol:
what's that?
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usaclimbing
Mar 23, 2004, 2:00 AM
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i believe the actual quote is mountain climbing, not rock... and you aren't hemingway so get over it. do you even understand what he ment by that quote?
and most of your arguement is unorginal and not very insightful. most people run outside, and they dont do it competively, does that mean running shouldn't be in the olympics? same with cycling, or how about swimming, kayaking, skiing. beyond that, just becuase its in the olympics doesn't mean it will be on tv for any real amount of time.... how much curling do you see? speed walking? its not like they show every second of every event... most of the events (esp in teh summer, which is much bigger) get hardly any coverage.
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climbingnurse
Mar 23, 2004, 2:44 AM
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First, to clarify Hemingway, he was talking about mountain climbing. I am QUITE sure he would not hold cragging (be it sport, trad, TR, or whatever) in quite as high a regard. And if he saw the current state of Everest climbing, I have NO doubt he would probably revoke whatever respect he once had for climbing in general. Very few of those posting here (myself included) do anything at all that Hemingway would care about.
Anyway, what friggin difference does it make if climbing gets into the olympics? I mean, people see curling on the olympics, and nobody's complaining about overcrowded curling... Where the hell do you go to engage in curling?
Right, but the point is that the type of climbing that would be in the olympics wouldn't be anything like what I personally like to do on the weekends (trad cragging). So, who cares? Maybe the gyms will get overcrowded. I should care because....
And besides all that it's been my experience that most people who have heard/read about climbing don't actually take up the sport enough to crowd me out of the cliffs. 90% of them will pay some ridiculous fee to take an intro to climbing class at a gym, feel heroic for a couple days, and then quit. Great, cuz that helps keep my membership rates down.
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wongwong
Mar 23, 2004, 3:43 AM
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What about sandbagged's idea- should climbing be in the special olympics? interesting idea from a very clever lad.
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usaclimbing
Mar 23, 2004, 4:24 AM
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first, its spelled H-E-M-I-N-G-W-A-Y... go look it up yourself. second, the change in the level or risk would change everything. a sport being, more or less defined, something in which your life is depedent on your skill and the skill/difficulty of your opponet.... now, i dont know about but the sport climbing deaths i hear about a few and far between and usually the cause of the person completely stupidity.
yes, rock climbing is part of mountaineering.... however that doesn't make it has dangerous and thus would, in my opinion, change its classification from a sport to a game... or if you perfer, hobby.... (according to hemingway)
also, hemingway died in 1961... which would mean there wasnt much in the way of sport climbing going on anywhere in the world.
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maika
Mar 23, 2004, 4:32 AM
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If climbing becomes an Olympic sport, it's not even going to acknowledge the pro's that make a living because of their skill. The part that would drive me crazy, is that climbing would become SOOOO commercialized (like it hasn't already), and would no longer be a cool sport that people do for fun. I hope that they don't do it!!!!
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climbingnurse
Mar 23, 2004, 4:41 AM
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In reply to: Different levels of risk but still risk.
That's the stupidest thing I've heard on rc.com!! (And that's really saying something.)
So... free soloing Astroman involved risk to the point that failure of any sort would result in certain death. Most remote alpine mountaineering involves a similiar level of risk: you make a couple of mistakes and Poof! You no longer exist on this planet.
And when you go sport cragging, you might slip off, and... What? Break an ankle? Maybe?
You would really say these things are in some way equivalent? I mean, seriously, do you think Hemingway would think golf was a sport because there is always that outside chance that you could be struck by lightning?
But I digress. I think this thread had something to do with the Olympics. Sorry... I think the special olympics would be an excellent venue for this argument.
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rockprodigy
Mar 23, 2004, 5:26 AM
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In reply to: do you honestly believe this? have you looked at who competes and what they climb outside? how about this:
Yes I do.
Name an American climber who has placed in an international competition and established a significant first ascent in the last 10 years. (Lynn Hill freed the nose in '92)
Oh yeah, and since it seems to matter now, I've been climbing for 13 years, and I climb 5.13 sport and trad, in case you think I'm not experienced enough to have an opinion.
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climbingnurse
Mar 23, 2004, 6:11 AM
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In reply to: Here's an example I've soloed, climbed r and x rated routes, El capitan 3 times in a week, 10 years worth of it, but I got hurt decking off the top of a sport climb. No danger but risk, theres none of that in golf. Does it still sound stupid?
Yep, sure does. If you decked from the top of a sport climb, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you did something that you now think is fairly... Well, stupid.
I don't mean to sound insensitive, but I don't know how else to say that. There's a difference between getting hurt because you did something dumb and getting hurt because you were testing your abilities against a fearsome challenge (mountain, bull, what have you) and lost.
Not that I have an intention of getting hurt doing either, myself.
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