On August 3, 2016, the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally announced that competition climbing would be a medal sport in the
2020 Summer Olympics. The inclusion was proposed by the
International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) in 2015. The decision to combine three disciplines of
lead climbing,
bouldering, and
speed climbing with one set of medals per sex caused widespread criticism in the climbing world. Climber
Lynn Hill said the decision to include speed climbing was like "asking a middle-distance runner to compete in the sprint." Czech climber
Adam Ondra, who later competed as a finalist at the Olympics, voiced similar sentiments in an interview stating that anything would be better than this combination. There is some overlap between athletes in the categories of lead climbing and bouldering, but speed climbing is usually seen as a separate discipline which is practiced by specialized athletes. Climber
Shauna Coxsey stated, "No boulderer has transitioned to speed and lead, and no speed climber has done it to bouldering and lead." Members of the IFSC explained that they were only granted one gold medal per gender by the Olympic committee and they did not want to exclude speed climbing. The IFSC's goal for the 2020 Olympics was primarily to establish climbing and its three disciplines as Olympic sports; changes to the format could follow later. This tactic proved to be successful as they were granted a second set of medals for the
2024 Summer Olympics, where speed climbing was a separate event from the combined event of lead climbing and bouldering. The final rankings were calculated by multiplying the climbers' rankings in each discipline, with the best score being the lowest one. ==Qualification==