Jaubert, Piccolruaz, the Tripartite, and the Olympics

The proposed postponement of the Olympic Games, and the associated qualifying events, has necessarily changed the way some athletes qualify for the Olympics.

On April 30, the Tripartite Commission assigned its qualification quota to France’s Anouck Jaubert and Italy’s Michael Piccolruaz. The Tripartite Commission allocates spots to countries with fewer than eight athletes in individual sports over the last two Olympic Games.

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Sometimes dreaming big pays off! Sometimes big dreams really do come true! – I still remember watching the Speed Final of the World Championship in Tokyo last year as if it was yesterday. If I had known back then how much was depending on that single race I for sure wouldn't have believed it! To keep it short: Ludo absolutely had to win, then he slipped, I thought all dreams are over, then Jan slipped, Ludo won… I made it to the combined semis, got a 14th place, well, and now… I guess that 14th place really earned me a ticket to the Olympics! I mean, the freaking Olympic games!! Wow, this really is unbelievable! – As happy as I am, I still feel sorry for my teammates @steghiso and @marci_bomb that your dream of becoming an olympian had to end this way. It would have been nice to battle it out at the European Champs, but at least I know that you will go back winning lead world cups now and you probably won't miss the speed training all too much ? – Well, I wanna take a few words to thank my family, friends and coaches who always believed in me and supported me throughout my career and life to reach this goal! A big thank you obviously also goes out to my sponsors @fiammeoromoena @mammut_swiss1862 @lasportivagram @avssportklettern for giving me the opportunity to practice this sport professionally! Thank you also to my federation @italiaclimbing for giving me the chance to show my skills out on the field at so many competitions. And most importantly, thank you to the one and only @ludovicofossali! Your victory is the best thing that could have happened to me!! I'm so glad we can head on this journey together now! A journey which started with a dream years ago and will end with this dream becoming reality the next year. I'm ready to give it all now to get into the shape of my life and fight as hard as I can at the Olympics in Tokyo 2021. Bring it on! – #olympics #tokyo2021 #roadtotokyo

A post shared by Michael Piccolruaz (@michael.piccolruaz) on May 1, 2020 at 10:01am PDT

According to a press release from the IFSC, “Jaubert and Piccolruaz receive the quota thanks to their placement at the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Hachioji (JPN), where they respectively finished in 11th and 14th position in the Women’s and Men’s Combined event.”

As each country has two available spots for each gender, the quota’s assignment to Piccolruaz and Jaubert have filled the Italy’s male qualification and France’s female qualification categories respectively.

This decision follows the reassignment of the European Championships, in which athletes from Europe would have been able to try and qualify for the Olympics. Though the Championships are still occurring, the Tripartite Commission’s assignment of qualifications have made it impossible for athletes in Italy’s men’s category, and France’s women’s category, to qualify.

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Yesterday I received a phone call and I figured out my last chance to go to Tokyo2020 just faded. Ifsc assigned the spot from the Tripartite commission and, in short words, I cannot qualify for the Olympics anymore. This decision was supposed to be made after European championships in March, so we would have a last fight there for the last spot, the competition then was postponed but not the assignment to this pass, who went to @michael.piccolruaz who was the next in the Combined world championship ranking and deserves this a lot, and who filled the quota for Italy. A weird story, it is sad not to fight one last time and being out of the game with a phone call, but I suppose we are living a bad historical moment (that was the cause of postponement of the comp) and I need to accept it, I mean, something much worse is happening to the world right now and I'm not going to cry for a competition, even if it is the most important one and it means losing more than a year of training and travels with the purpose to qualify. It's not a big deal, think, even the Olympics are not in the Olympics this year, I can overcome this ??. In any case, I strongly believe, competitions won't unfortunately take place this year (personal thought, not official), so this decision would have just come now or later, and sooner is better. After few minutes of sadness after the call, I realized I still have 1000 projects and more time to work on them now, I like to see the positive side and I can say I'm happy I can do what I love most, you can see what I talking about in the second picture. • • I'm sorry for @fannygibert974 and @marci_bomb who lost their possibility too and deserved a chance to fight, but at the same time I'm happy for @michael.piccolruaz and Anouck Jaubert who deserve the spot for their amazing performances last year in Tokyo.

A post shared by Stefano Ghisolfi (@steghiso) on May 1, 2020 at 1:45am PDT

For Olympic hopefuls Fanny Gibert (FRA) and Stefano Ghisolfi (ITA) this information is understandably difficult. This pandemic raises many questions about IOC qualification practices and what is technically fair.

In either case, two more spaces have been filled for the upcoming Olympic Games. These world-class athletes join the ranks of the best in the world, each waiting for their opportunity to represent their country in Tokyo.

According to the IFSC:

“The eight remaining slots will be awarded according to the following schedule of continental championships:

• IFSC European Championships in Moscow (RUS), from October 1 to 8
• IFSC African Championships in Cape Town (RSA), date To Be Defined
• IFSC Asian Championships, location and date TBD
• IFSC Oceania Championships in Sydney (AUS), date TBD

The IFSC Executive Board recently decided that the qualification process will have to be concluded within December 31, 2020.”

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[Olympic Games ❌] Un appel, une phrase et en 3 sec tout s’écroule. Ma colère est infinie, j’ai hurlé de toutes mes forces jusqu’à me faire péter les cordes vocales mais c’est pas suffisant. J’ai encore si mal. C’est bien pire qu’une défaite. Je suis chez moi le visage bouffé par les larmes et rien … le néant, aucune prise à laquelle me raccrocher. Juste ce sentiment de profonde impuissance… seule face à cette décision injuste. Laissez moi grimper, laissez moi me battre ! * Aujourd’hui la place tripartite a été ré-attribuée à Anouck pour sa place de (11ème) aux championnats du monde 2019. Les championnats d’Europe 2020 auraient du avoir lieu fin mars avant l’attribution de cette place. Les championnats d’Europe ont été reportés à cause du covid19 mais il a été décidé de ne pas reporter la date d’attribution de la tripartite. Donc les quotas Français sont pleins. Avant que la dernière possibilité de sélection ait eu lieu. Ça ferme la sélection pour moi. ——————————————————— One call, one sentence and in one sec, everything is falling apart. I'm feeling endlessly angry ! I screamed and screamed as loud as I could but still it's not enough. My pain remains intact. So much worse than loosing (on a comp). I'm home, my face puffed up by the tears and… nothing…no single hold to hold on to. Only this deep feeling of helplessness… Facing alone this unfair decision. Let me climb, let me fight! * Today the tripartite seat has been re-attributed to Anouck for her result on the 2019 world championships (11th). The European championships were supposed to take place at the end of March, before the tripartite seat handing out. Even if the European championships were postponed due to Covid19 pandemic, it was decided not to postpone the date of the tripartite handing out. So now the French quotas are full. Before the my last opportunity to qualify takes place. It is over for me. —————————————— ? @toksuede @ffmontagne_escalade @verticalartclimbing @scarpafrance @blackdiamond @vibram

A post shared by Fanny Gibert (@fannygibert974) on Apr 30, 2020 at 10:02am PDT

Featured photo of Michael Piccolruaz by The Circuit Climbing.