The push for climbing to be an Olympic sport continues:
“I’m open to anything because I love our sport,” Dornberger said. “I love tradition, but it’s vital that we become an Olympic sport.
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If we have to be dragged into the 21st century to do that, I’m ok with that.”
Oh wait, this is actually an article about the sport activity of bowling, although the arguments about how Bowling needs to evolve to appeal to the Olympics are not that different from the types of arguments that are made about climbing: move away from the core principles of the sport in an effort to appeal to the masses.
What is missing from this and most other articles like it though is why exactly sports are so concerned with joining the Olympic circus in the first place?
“it’s vital that we become an Olympic sport”
Why? I would understand if this read, “it would be cool if.” But vital?
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Why?
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I would rather not see climbing in the olympics. That doesn’t seem like it would be a good thing for the sport.
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I get the sense from the above article and from a lot of the comments I’ve heard around the internet is that a lot of it is about respect and recognition. There are a lot of athletes, sponsors, coaches, etc. in non-represented sports who feel, rightfully or not, that their sport is being disrespected or is not getting the publicity it deserves due to its exclusion from the Olympic Games. In climbing, there are a small number of athletes that would benefit enormously from increased visibility and sponsorship, and there are also people who feel that showcasing the sport on such a public world stage would do it a great service, an idea which certainly has merit.
However, there are a number of reasons that climbing in the Olympics could be problematic. So far, climbing seems to have been a relatively clean sport r.e. drugs and other forms of cheating, and the possibly of Olympic fame and money would dramatically increase the incentives for such things, which would be a real tragedy for the sport (no one wants to be the next cycling). I also saw it pointed out recently (forget where, sorry) that it would be stupidly easy for setters to subtly rig problems or routes to favor certain climbers (shorter, taller, whatever). Finally, with the sport feeling the growing pains that it already is in terms of increased impact at outdoor venues, with the Red coming to mind in particular as a place that has been feeling a lot of strain, it is hard to argue for a change that would dramatically accelerate these effects. On the other hand, increased popularity could increase the number of people who care about access, and climbers have been instrumental in the past in securing protection for a lot of wild places from development or resource extraction.
In short, I am mildly against pushing climbing into the Olympics at the immediate moment, but I certainly believe there is plenty of potential to do it right and have a positive impact.
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I’m not sure what pushing the sport aggressively to grow and receive recognition (or what some may call, “dragged into the 21st century”) would do for the sport. We have gear companies that produce more than enough good, safe gear at reasonable prices. We have more than enough developed crags (and many that should not be [more] developed). And although I am not opposed to it’s presence, no sport “needs” professionals, and the industry that supports their professionalism. I don’t know about you all but I don’t feel like the sport needs to grow just because. It is, and will, grow either way, that is the current trend. Why not let it happen organically and slowly while we deal with the issues that come with more people enjoying the sport (and more money infusing and developing the industry)? The sport does not need to grow in order to be great(er).
How does the famous quote from Jonas Salk go: “growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” Just saying…
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Edward Abbey, not Jonas Salk. Mixing things up…
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In this continued debate it always seems easier to argue against the Olympics instead of looking at the positive side. Off course, like skating hiphop etc, it sounds way cooler not to be commercial, while at the same time such lifestyles are also huge commercial industries. I won’t say only good things come out of becoming an Olympic sport, but since it is a growing sport anyway a number of the global issues like overcrowding climbing crags will have to be addressed one way or another. Having a broader platform will help develop the sport as a competition, but also as the daily recreational lifestyle it is for most of us! I think we have a fear that when climbing becomes Olympic it will lose our values and control, but instead I think it will give a better chance to think about what climbing is and evaluate it to something even better. Also it is in essence not a commercial company like RedBull who now seems in charge of the video streaming of competitions.
All in all I find it hard to judge what would be best for our sport in the long run, but currently I would take my chance with becoming Olympic
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I like the idea in theory. More exposure for climbing is pretty nifty. It was quite cool this summer to hear people talking about Meagan Martin and Sean McColl.
Practically though turning your minor sport over to the Olympics is like putting Jimmy Saville in charge of your kids.
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because the olympics are so well respected these days (see the 2022 winter games host city fiasco: http://www.businessinsider.com/olympics-oslo-2022-olympics-2014-10).
the olympics simply really aren’t that “cool” any more. 20 years ago it might have been of benefit for climbing but these days they would be better off using their time to organically grow the sport’s popularity. the olympics, without vast reform, are a cancerous and dying entity and anyways, most olympic sports are not particularly popular anyways (can you name a single person who competes in crew or speed walking? do you think people is nearly any country can?). i simply have never understood why so many “pro” climbers and the leaders of the various national and international climbing federations have been so stuck on this idea for so long….
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I row. And a lot of climbers I met happen to be ex rowers.
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