THE ASCENT OF A NEW SPORT

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is only three months away, even as the coronavirus threatens to disrupt it. If it goes head, the Games will debut a new event called sport climbing, which is slowly gaining ground in Africa.

- NICK SAID

WHEN THE LIST OF EVENTS AT THE 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were announced, one caught the eye immediately, not because it is debuting in the competition, but rather because of its obscurity.

Sport climbing will be new to many Olympic fans, but has actually been in existence since the 1980s and has something of a cult following around the world.

The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) estimates that 43 million people across the globe are active participants, even if it is struggling to get a foothold on the African continent.

“Africa is our weakness,” IFSC President Marco Scolaris tells FORBES AFRICA. “Although the sport is developed and growing in South Africa, there is very little activity on the rest of the continent and that is something we are trying hard to change.

“We have an opportunity during the 2022 Summer Youth Olympics in Senegal, where it will be one of the sports, and of course the Olympics in Tokyo gives us a chance to showcase the sport to a global audience of some two billion, many in Africa.

“A number of Olympic committees in various African countries have started to show an interest now that we are an Olympic sport.”

Scolaris explains the attraction of the sport and how it has developed from humble beginnings.

“We believe that climbing is an instinct for humans, everyone climbs at least a few times in their lives, especially when you are a child, to see the world from a higher place. It is one of the best pursuits for motor skills.

“Sport climbing started on rocks in nature, but later we had purpose-built plastic or wooden walls in urban areas that opened up the sport in the cities and created a boom of interest.