Torero climbs to Olympics

Sports Climbing will make its Olympic debut in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics 

Celina Tebor / Managing Editor / The USD Vista

Brooke Raboutou has been climbing since she could walk. Now, at age 18, she is the first U.S. climber to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

The University of San Diego sophomore has been surrounded by climbing her entire life. For starters, both of her parents were professional climbers: her dad is a three-time World Cup champion, and her mom is a five-time U.S. champion and four-time World Cup Champion. And hailing from Boulder, Colo., it would have been difficult for Raboutou to avoid the sport. Memories of climbing echo back to her youngest years.

“My first memory was in my basement,” Raboutou said. “My dad built a plywood (wall) with some climbing holes on it. I remember climbing on that when I could barely walk.”

Raboutou is also the youngest person ever to climb a 5.14b. Climbing grades range between 1 and 6, and the letter, a, b, or c, further describes the difficulty of the climb. 5.14b is classified as “very difficult.” She climbed her first V13 boulder problem in 2014. The hardest outdoor boulder problems in the world are rated V16 and V17, and the V is short for Vermin, named after a famous climber. 

Raboutou qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) world championships in Hachiochi, Japan in August 2019. The top seven climbers in the women’s combined competition qualified for the Olympics. Raboutou placed ninth. But only two competitors could advance from each country, and four Japanese placed in the top seven. After watching the scores hop around, Raboutou learned she was going to the Olympics.

“When I found out, I was really happy,” Raboutou said. “Very shocked … My mom didn’t believe me at first.”

Raboutou still gets nervous at climbing competitions, but the pressure backs off when she’s competing with the professionals.

“I’m just trying to have fun, and when I’m having fun I usually climb my best,” Rabatou said. “I like to focus on my breathing to calm my nerves, focus in on the moment.”

Sports climbing will make its Olympic debut in 2020, combining three different climbing disciplines: speed climbing, bouldering, and  lead climbing. Speed climbing is true to its name, as climbers attempt to reach the top of the climbing wall as fast as possible. Bouldering involves shorter walls, up to four meters. Climbers must attempt a route without any climbing equipment within a four-minute time limit, and the routes involve difficult holds and require careful technique. Lead climbing includes climbing ropes and quickdraws, which allow climbers to control their rope while climbing, and competitors attempt to climb as high as possible in six minutes. 

The combined climbing disciplines in one Olympic event has spurred conversation and controversy among the climbing community. Typically, climbers specialize in one type of climbing. 

Shauna Coxsey, who won IFSC Bouldering World Cup in 2016 and 2017, said in an interview with Olympics News, “It’s a bit like asking Usain Bolt to run a marathon and then do the hurdles. No one has really transitioned before. No boulderer has transitioned to speed and lead, and no speed climber has done it to bouldering and lead.”

However, Raboutou thinks it’s a good introduction for the sport to the Olympics.

“I hope to see that in the future, there’ll be medals for individual (disciplines),” Rabatou said. “I think that as a sport, all three are quite different and people should be rewarded for being specialists. As a start, I think it’s cool that it’s combined. It definitely brings a different strategy to it that athletes have to use.”

Raboutou has been training in bouldering and lead climbing for longer, but has been practicing speed as well, because the youth world championships she has participated in involve combined disciplines — like the Olympics. Despite joining the speed game late, she enjoys all three disciplines equally.

“A lot of people don’t like speed as much because it’s different than the other two,” Raboutou said. “I really enjoy it and enjoy competing in it, because I seem to improve my time every time. I like them all, honestly.”

The 2020 Olympics won’t be happening for another year, and Raboutou has plenty of time to train in the meantime. She plans on focusing on a different discipline each day in the gym, and doing mock simulations to get used to the format. She’ll continue to attend USD this fall, but will take off the Spring 2020 semester to prepare for the Olympics and plans to return after.

As for her hopes after finishing at USD, she’s not planning on leaving climbing behind in her college years. 

“I think I’ll always want to be a climber,” Raboutou said. “Maybe combine the two, business and climbing. My mom is a coach and owns a climbing gym, so following along her footsteps would be awesome.”

Raboutou has achieved a lot during her 18 years of life. During the 2020 Olympics, she may add one more accomplishment to her lengthy list. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will occur between July 24 and Aug. 9, 2020. Currently, Raboutou stands alone as the only American who has qualified for Olympic sport climbing.