Weight, top level, beta classes and anorexia in climbing.

FBAI 2000

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Weight, top level, beta classes and anorexia in climbing. If you take a look at the ranking list for boulderers you will find that for top level women few women weigh above 55 kgs. Most 8B boulderers weigh between 40 and 53 kilos and their height is usually less than 160 cm. If you are familiar with climbing gyms and the process of making a boulder you know that it is relatively easy to construct a boulder that is impossible for a person that is less than 160 cm height, the same boulder would be graded 6a for a person that is 185 cm. The boulder can be constructed as follows: On a slightly overhanging wall, put two big footholds 30 cm above the floor. Put two positive 3 cm sidepulls – one for the left hand to the left, one for the right hand to the right, at around 150 cm above the floor. Then at around 240-250 cm above the floor, put an undercut. The sidepulls have been chosen in such a way they cannot be used as foothold. To do this boulder, you must be around 185-190 cm height: You use the two foot holds for your feet, pull on the sidepulls and reach up to the top undercut, and match. This move is impossible for a person with less than 160 cm height. For a tall person the boulder has grade 5C-6A. How should the climbing community grade this boulder? Most female 8B boulderers are less than 165 cm height, hence none of these boulderers would be able to do this boulder. A 185 cm tall 7A boulderer would flash the boulder and grade it 6A. If in the olympics there is one climber that is 185 cm tall, the rest are less than 165 cm, it is easy to construct boulders in the final that favor the tall climber. Just construct 5 boulders of this type. The final would become a comedy and the world would laugh at the climbing community – this would be similar to a situation where a boxer with weight 120 kgs were to fight a boxer with weight 55 kgs in the Olympics boxing competition. To avoid this type of situation the climbing community has to change the competition format and introduce height classes in climbing competitions. This would solve the problem. If you take a look at today’s top level female climbers you will find that they all weigh below 55 kgs: Weight max level 53 kgs 8B+ 48 kgs 8B+ 45 kgs 8B 40 kgs 8B 53 kgs 8B 58 kgs 8A+ 43 kgs 8B 43 kgs 8A+ There are few female top boulderers weighing more than 70 kilos. Some people argue that the current competition format is encouraging anorexia among female climbers, and if you look at the ranking lists you will find that top female climbers all weigh around 50 kilos. Hence the climbing community should change the competition format for several reasons: It would be a more healthy approach to the sport and it would also no longer encourage anorexia tendencies among female climbers. An embarrasing situation in the olympics would be if a completely unknown female climber with height 185 cm won the competition. Shouldn't this type of a situation be avoided at all costs?

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John Render

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For the 185 cm female climber to win the Olympics, the setters would have to build routes and boulders that are only possible for someone of her height. That has never happened. Why would they do that in the Olympics?

FBAI 2000

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What if some person from the XXX paid the route setters in the coming olympics to create a final that would favor its 185 cm relative? This girl from XXX has never ever won any international competitions and her max bouldering level is 7A+. She is the only member of the XXX National Bouldering Team and her relative owns the olympic route setter team. The current situation in sport climbing is similar to the situation in gymnastics in the 70s when the romanian national team was feeding Nadia Comaneci hormone blockage medicine to stop her from entering puberty and gain weight. This was done so that she could win more goldmedals in the olympics. The current situation in climbing is similar where children aged 11 weighing in at 35-40 kilos are doing 9a's after 2 years of climbing. Climbing as a sport is becoming a comedy and the only way to do something about this is to change the competition format where climbers compete in "beta classes". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Com%C4%83neci Let us recall the hungarian olympic skier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1pFhyRWxes Elizabeth Swaney. She "scammed" her way into the half pipe final but didnt make it "all the way to the top". In climbing it would in fact be possible to "scam" your way to the olympics, and with the current competition format it is also possible that this person could "scam" the final and win gold: If you bribe the route setters to set boulders that favor 185 cm 7A+ climbers and the rest of the finalists are 8B boulderers less than 160 cm. Again: It would be similar to martial arts and boxing with a 120 kg boxer fighting a 55 kg boxer in the olympic boxing final - a total "scam" and the rest of the world would laugh at the entire climbing community and climbing as a sport. PS: If you check the homepage of the 2018 Olympics you will find Swaney's name on the half-pipe ranking list hence this is not socalled "fake news". It is in fact true. In the future they will rename the event: "Scamlympics".