BMC Patrons and President wish Great Britain’s Sport Climbing athletes’ luck for Paris 2024 Olympic Games
The 2024 Olympic Games are underway, and the nation's eyes are firmly on Paris and all the Team GB athletes. As Sport Climbing makes its second-ever appearance at the Olympic Games, we get to witness a new chapter in history as four climbers step out onto the mats to represent Great Britain.
Toby Roberts and Hamish McArthur are set to become Team GB’s first-ever male climbers at an Olympic Games. Roberts, 19, from Surrey, whose first-ever climb was at age three on a family day out, became the first British climber last year to win a World Cup in two different disciplines: lead and boulder. McArthur, 23, from York, is a double Youth World Champion and earned a bronze medal at his first senior World Championship in Moscow three years ago.
Erin McNeice and Molly Thompson-Smith are also set to feature in their debut Olympic Games, three years after Shauna Coxsey competed for Team GB in the Games’ inaugural sport climbing event at Tokyo 2020. McNeice, 20, from Kent, and five-time British Champion Thompson-Smith, 26, from London, both secured qualification to Paris last month through the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS), with McNeice collecting two bronze medals in OQS events in Shanghai and Budapest.
Ahead of the Games, Dom Oughton, President of the British Mountaineering Council, said: “Good luck, guys. It’s so exciting to see what you’ve achieved already. You’re going to be amazing in Paris. With the world looking on, give it your best shot. Come back proud and having enjoyed yourself.”
The four British sport climbers will join a team of 327 Team GB athletes, with the British Olympic Association sending one of its biggest cohorts to Paris. For only the second time in history, there will be more women competing than men in Paris, with 155 male and 172 female athletes.
The BMC wants to recognise the remarkable coaches and support staff working with the climbers representing Great Britain. These individuals support our talented athletes day in and day out, often providing the critical ingredient that propels an athlete to the top of their sport.
The climbing action begins in Le Bourget on Monday 5 August, with the Men’s Boulder & Lead competition starting with the Boulder semi-final heat. The women representing Great Britain begin their competition on Tuesday, 6 August, with the Women’s Boulder semi-final round of the Boulder & Lead competition.
You can watch the climbing on Discovery+ or BBC and follow the results on the GB Climbing social media channels.
Head to the BMC’s Paris2024 hub to find out how to get climbing and keep up with the action across the channel.
Good luck from our Patrons
Sir Chris Bonington
"I'm just wishing the British team the very very best of luck in the Olympics. Just go for it!"
Rab Carrington
"It's wonderful, wonderful, to see what you four have achieved. Congratulations to all of you. To Toby, Hamish, Molly and Erin."
Mick Fowler
"Just a quick message to say congratulations on winning places at the Olympics and all the very best when you get out there to Paris."
Pat Littlejohn OBE
“Just to wish you a very exciting and successful Olympics. Hope you thoroughly enjoy yourselves and make a lot of new friends along the way”.
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