Climbing Out of the Olympics: Chair of Canada’s Comp Climbing Organization Responds

Dave Dornian is (along with being an author, alpinist, skier, and many other things) Chair of Climbing Escalade Canada, which is a part of The Alpine Club of Canada, the IFSC’S national member federation. We caught up with him in Hamilton, where he is serving as an IFSC Judge for the World Cup. He made the following comments after the International Olympic Committee declined to include climbing in the 2020 Olympics (but did not permanently exclude it).

“Even in a national sports context, climbing is not so much about uniforms, awards, professionalism, and team competition, as it is about creating opportunities to gather for the purpose of motivating and improving skills and performance. Sport Climbing exists to bring climbers together, in front of the world. The Olympic Games, and the sports organization policies advocated by the IOC, will continue to inspire and educate. But sport climbing itself has enough value that it needn’t rely on rivalry between nations as the prime reason for its practice. Without any climbing history at the Olympics, going to the Games is just another road trip. Sometimes, despite the best of plans, it rains, and you have to spend a few days cooling your heels in the coffee shop.”