Climbing will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2020. Meet the people who will craft the routes for Olympians to scale
on a September Sunday in Kranj, a half-hour drive from Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, and Christian Bindhammer is staring at a blank wall. It is his canvas. In a few hours it will be transformed from 182 square metres of drab beige and grey into a fever dream of Kandinsky colours. A week later it will be unveiled to 1,300 spectators. Within a month, another 180,000 will have beheld it on YouTube.
Next year, climbing will reach what is often seen as a sport’s pinnacle when, in Tokyo, it makes its Olympic debut. The International Olympic Committee wants to attract younger audiences to its ageing franchise, and climbing has the vibe they are looking for. Tokyo was keen; climbing is popular in Japan.
Route-setters have much in common. They are lean, with Popeye forearms, callused palms and finger joints gnarled from years of squeezing tiny edges. Like everyone, they are prone to bias. No one can stop being French, or flexible, or tall, says Mr Le Menestrel. They have personal styles and imbibe national ones . And they are sturdy.
Like all experts, route-setting teams are inclined to groupthink. A certain “intersubjectivity” is required in order to curb this, says Mr Le Menestrel philosophically. Mr Bindhammer’s Kranj crew included two other-certified colleagues—Yann Genoux, a full-time French route-setter living in Britain, and Martin Hammerer, a software engineer from Austria—and three apprentices.
The hope is that these constraints won’t erase the human element. If they ever did, says Mr Le Menestrel, you would have “perfect rules, no judgment, no beauty”. And, ultimately, “no fun”. Sometimes the climbers are more creative than the route-setters could have imagined, surprising them with unexpected sequences. “There is no formula,” says Mr Bishton, any more than there is an algorithm for the perfect “Swan Lake”.
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Musk defies skeptics, meets Tesla delivery goal; shares hit recordTesla Inc beat Wall Street estimates for annual vehicle deliveries and met the l...
Weiterlesen »
Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Bank of America, Apple, L Brands & moreHere are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday.
Weiterlesen »
Tesla meets low end of 2019 goal for vehicle deliveriesTesla Inc beat Wall Street estimates for vehicle deliveries in its fourth quarte...
Weiterlesen »
Wall Street analysts expect a big 2020 from these internet stocks including Facebook, and AmazonWall Street analysts said they expect internet stocks to continue to soar in 2020.
Weiterlesen »
S&P 500 snaps win streak as Middle East tensions push down Wall StreetWall Street's major indexes fell from record highs on Friday after a U.S. a...
Weiterlesen »
The Runaway HusbandsIndian women have using a heretofore overlooked law to punish their runaway husbands: via Reuters
Weiterlesen »