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Competition climbing one hold closer to Olympic acceptance

Climbing organization ready to make its pitch
1506dispatch
Aiming High A new decision by the IOC could raise the profile of climbing to new heights.

A recent decision by the International Olympic Committee to formally recognize the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) as the sole governing body for climbing on artificial surfaces puts the sport on a par with swimming or even hockey, says Dave Dornian, chair of Competition Climbing Canada (CEC), Canada’s national sport climbing organization.

The official recognition, which was announced in December, also brings competition climbing one step closer to being included in the Olympic Games, he added.

“We really have just one step left to go,” Dornian said. “Competition climbing needs to be voted in by the IOC program committee as part of the next Olympic Games that aren’t finalized yet.”

Those Games, he said, are in 2014.

“Competition climbing has now been accepted and recognized by the IOC, as one on the list of sports that are eligible,” Dornian explained. “That means it is now a peer with swimming, sailing, tennis (and) even hockey.”

One of the criteria for receiving that recognition was that the sport be practiced in a sufficient number of countries – more than 70. Organized competition climbing is popular in many European nations, as well as much of Asia and North America. It is part of several multi-sport games, including the Asian Games and the World Games.

“We probably have more countries than swimming,” Dornian said. “Climbing meets all the criteria for number of countries, and it continues to grow.”

As the governing body for the sport of competition climbing in Canada, the CEC, which is a member of the IFSC, ensures its athletes follow international regulations, including anti doping rules. It is also charged with forming national teams and arranging for those teams to participate in international competitions.

And, in the case of seeing competition climbing among the sports represented at the Olympics in the future, official recognition is an essential step.

"The CEC is a national sports federation, just like Alpine Canada,” Dornian said. “What this (recognition) means for us is that we can now approach Sports Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee for parallel recognition for our athletes and programs.” Currently, the CEC, which also happens to be the only non-geographical section of the Alpine Club of Canada, includes an adult team, which fluctuates between 10 and 20 members over the age of 16, and a youth team with 24 to 30 members between the ages of 13 and 19. While some members of the youth team are younger than 13, they are not recognized internationally.

Along with the youth team members, Dornian said, comes a group of active and enthusiastic adults who serve on the committee, including many parents who are passionately involved.

“Competition climbing is not as big with adults,” Dornian said. “Youth teams are a bigger deal in North America, everyone’s into sports for kids. It’s harder to promote adult competitions. And parents love to see kids with medals around their necks.”

As such, Dornian, a lifelong climber and Calgary native, said he believed competitive climbing at the youth level has the best chance of driving the change within the IOC necessary to welcome competition climbing into the Games.

“We’ve been putting it forward and talking about it as an urban sport, a youth sport,” Dornian said. That approach might just lead the sport to become part of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, set to debut in 2010, with a host city to be decided next month. The games will welcome athletes aged 14 thru 18 competing in summer and winter events, which will alternate every four years, like the Olympic Games. The summer events will take place over 10 days with about 3000 athletes, while the winter games will host 1000 athletes competing over seven days. Compared to the Olympics, the Youth Olympics will focus on education above competition.

“And the Youth Olympics will have will have different sports than the big ponderous traditional Olympics,” Dornian added.

At present, the IFSC speaks formally with the IOC a couple of times a year, and informally several more times. Representatives of the IOC are invited to competition climbing events, and even used as consultants. As well, the IOC now provides a small amount of funding for development of competition climbing, and other purposes.

For the most part, however, Dornian said right now it’s a matter of waiting for the sport to go through the IOC political process.

“It’s a complex political course to navigate,” Dornian said. “The Summer Games can’t get any bigger, and with Winter they’re trying to keep the games linked to ice and snow. This is my opinion, but I think the IOC would love to see more sports in the Games with the same number of athletes overall, and maybe eliminate repetitive events within the same sports. With the Olympics, we’re probably going to see a revolution from within. There is no date set for sport climbing at the Olympics yet, but political pressure is building. Though it will take some work before we are actually watching climbers under the rings, I'm confident that it will only be a matter of time."