It is incredibly exciting to watch all of the talented climbers competing in the Olympics! 🧗‍♀️ It’s been such a journey to see the sport progress to being a part of the Olympic Games. When I started competing at 7, the Olympics were not even slightly on the radar of a possibility. In fact, only few people were even aware of rock climbing as a sport. Perhaps living in Boulder, CO skews my perspective of how many people are aware of it now — but— its inclusion to the world’s greatest stage of competition is certainly an indicator of its strong growth and new found popularity. During “my day,” (now I feel old!) I’d often be the only American even at a sport climbing World Cup, and my friend matilda_soderlund from team Sweden and I would band together and show up to the technical meetings, void of any “team” or coach, and call ourselves “team amereden.” America + Sweden. At that time many of the US climbers focused on outdoor rock because there was no financial support whatsoever aroun...