Debate over Climbing in 2020 Olympics

This past week, five new sports were proposed to the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Among them: climbing. There would be three categories of competition over the course of four days: bouldering, sport, and speed. Twenty men and twenty women (40 total, for those of you who are bad at math) would compete for gold. Winners would be based on their performance in all three disciplines in this unusual adaptation of the Olympics.

Some of you may remember a similar debate (and different outcome) in 2013 when climbing was first rejected from the 2020 Olympics. The difference now? The host country. A modified structure allows host countries to choose whether or not they’d like to incorporate fringe sports, such as climbing.

A final consensus will be reached in August 2016.

Click here for the full article on climbing.com.