(Keith): Ah! I can't! - Come on, Keith!
You got this. - I can't hold on!
Give me your hand! Keith! - I can't hold on!
Come on, Keith! - I'm too afraid!
- Take my hand, Keith! No, no! - I'm too afraid!
(screaming) (Zach): No!
- Ah.
- Okay, see you up there? - I'm gonna take the stairs.
- Okay, bye. - Yeah.
(Zach): We're the Try Guys, and we absolutely
love the Olympics.
(Eugene):
(Keith): The glory! We can't get enough of it!
(Eugene): But to be honest, there's a lot we don't know.
(Zach): So we want to become the ultimate Olympic experts
the best way we know how...
by trying!
(Keith):
- Today, we are sport climbing,
which is a sport...
- ...where you climb. - Uh-huh!
- But I am afraid of heights... - Yes.
- So today is a little concerning for me.
I can only assume I'll mostly scream.
(indistinct shouting, screaming)
(Zach): Wow, is that Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible?
- Wow!
(dramatic music)
(Zach): Wow, look at this monkey man.
(Keith): Wow.
- Wow, he's just going.
(dramatic music continues)
(Zach): Oh, whoa! Did you see that?
- Did he just jump with his arms?
- He just swung!
And then, how're you gonna get down?
(Keith): Ah! (Zach): Oh!
(both): Josh Levin!
(Keith): Professional sports climber! Wow!
- How's it going? - It's good!
So you're an expert, you're gonna teach us today.
So, do you think today,
you'll be able to turn us novices into pros?
- Depends on your definition of pro.
- Okay!
- What is sport climbing?
- Sport climbing is the competitive element of climbing.
In the Olympics, there'll be three different events
and the disciplines will be speed climbing,
bouldering,
and lead climbing.
And in the Olympics,
the idea is that you'll have to do all three
to see who's gonna win
the first Olympic climbing gold medal.
- Wow, cool! - Wow, this is the first one!
So this is really, really big and worth watching.
As it's never happened before. - Absolutely.
- Do you think you could beat a monkey?
- No.
- What's even the point?
Why do you like doing this?
- Climbing, for me, has always been super instinctual.
So, when I was little, three or four years old,
I was climbing on tops of bookshelves and tabletops,
and all sorts of different elements,
and the great thing about it is that you don't need
anything to tell you how to climb.
It's just part of human DNA.
So, just like other kids liked to run or jump or swim, I loved to climb.
- We
- I've been competing since I was seven years old.
And some of my major accomplishments in the sport
have been winning 19 national championship titles,
the bronze medal at the Youth World Championships,
and also, I used to be the former
American record holder in speed climbing.
- Okay. You're qualified to teach us.
- Yeah. - You passed.
So, what is the history of sports climbing?
(narrator):
While people have been climbing rocks since...
well, the beginning of people and rocks,
climbing for sport
became popular with the mountaineers of the early 1900s.
They loved climbing so much,
they built the world's first artificial climbing wall
in 1939, made of stone and concrete.
By the 1950s, some climbers in France and the UK
were skipping the trip to the mountains altogether,
and building adjustable wooden climbing walls.
Merci, mates, merci!
As sport climbing grew in popularity,
one of the first international climbing competitions happened in 1985
near Turin, Italy, in an event called Sport Roccia.
It was such a smashing success
that almost 10,000 people showed up the follow year.
By the 1990s, climbing events had become so popular
that World Cup organizers decided, "No more real rocks."
Competitions would only take place
on artificial climbing walls
to help avoid damage to the rock's surface
and preserve the surrounding environment.
In 1998,
speed climbing was introduced at the World Cup,
followed by boulder a year later
and athletes with physical disabilities
joined the action in 2006.
The sport was a big hit when it debuted at the Youth Olympic Games,
Buenos Aires, 2018.
And now, sport climbing will make its official Olympic debut in Tokyo,
with a combined format of speed, boulder
and lead climbing deciding who brings home the gold for the very first time.
- So, if we want to learn a little more about climbing technique,
one of the most important parts about climbing, in general,
and thinking about the physics of climbing,
is understanding how to navigate
and manipulate your centre of gravity,
which is right at your hips.
- Your hips don't lie. - Right, exactly.
So, understanding how you can move your hips on the wall
to make it such that
you're using as little energy as possible
to move yourself from one hold to the next.
- I feel like I'm in kindergarten.
I'm having a great time. - Yeah, that's perfect!
- Friendship and smiling! (chuckling)
- So, for example,
if I'm reaching up with my left hand,
which hip do I want to have into the wall?
- The left one! - Left.
- The left hip. So watch this.
(Keith): You're gonna go... - Turn my left hip
while keeping this arm straight. Into the wall.
And reach up.
Exactly. - Like that!
- Yes! - Oh yeah, that's easy!
- There you go! - That's easy!
- Nice! - Look at me!
- Alright, so the first discipline
of the three Olympic disciplines that we're gonna look at today
is speed climbing.
(sharp exhale)
(automated voice):
(Zach): Oh, my God.
(Keith): He's flying! He's so fast!
(Zach): No, no, no, no! (Keith): He's so fast!
(Zach): Wow. Wow, wow! Wow!
(cheering)
(Keith): Awesome. (Zach): It was about 7-something.
- That's what I was going for.
- That was good!
(exhaling loudly)
- Speed climbing is very anaerobic.
So, you're holding your breath, like, the entire way.
- Oh! Why is that?
- Because it's so fast that...
if you were stopping to breathe, you're not going fast enough.
- No k-- (laughter)
- Generally, the people who are gonna be in the Olympic Games
will be under 10 seconds... - Oh!
- And the world record right now is 5.48 seconds.
(both): No. (Josh): Yes.
(both): No. (Josh): Total.
And the idea is that you're racing someone else,
first person to the top wins, that's it.
- Oh, my God.
This is it. - This is our training.
- Yeah. - We could--
- What if we qualify?
- There you go, you never know! You'd be in the Olympics.
(dramatic music)
- Alright, so we're gonna hook this into your harness here.
Just like that. (chuckling)
And then, when you get ready,
you're gonna put one of your feet on that line,
and that'll make sure you don't false start.
(Zach): Okay.
(ding!) (Keith): Go! Yes!
- Go, go, go.
Launch your body! (Josh): Nice! There you go!
- Laun-- Yes! - Come on, there you go, Zach!
Come on. At this point, he...
- ...go from here to there? Are you out of your mind?!
(Josh): Can you put your left foot up? Come on.
(grunting) (overlapping encouragements)
(Josh): Up to the upper part. (Keith): Now, fly!
(Josh): Good. Perfect. Reach up, reach up, reach up!
Come on! (grunting)
(all yelling)
(Keith): I'm gonna push you right back that way.
- Nice job!
Alright, we're gonna have some assisted climbing here.
(Keith): Whoa! - Yep, there you go.
(Keith): How do you even...? - No, right hand in the same scoop.
- I'm feeling a scoop if y'know what I mean!
Keep on going!
- Okay, we're gonna come down! - Okay!
Woo! (chuckling)
- Nice. - I don't know...
You gotta have a lot of strength!
- I forget how pillow your butt is
until I get my hands right on it again.
- It's a soft pillow! - It's nice!
- Some people have muscles in their butt. Not me!
All fat, baby!
(all chuckling) - It's nice!
(Josh): So, this is bouldering.
- Okay! - Alright, let's boulder!
Alright! Here we go! - Boulder!
(overlapping exclamations)
(Zach): That hurts...
- So, the cool part about bouldering is that
you don't have to have a huge space to do it.
All you need to have is a short little wall,
some nice pads on the ground,
some shoes, and some chalk.
(dramatic music)
(music winding down)
(Keith): Okay, that's a lot of chalk!
(Josh): In an individual bouldering round,
you'll typically get four to five different boulder problems.
We call them "boulder problems" because
you're actually having to problem solve your way
up the climb as you move along.
The climbs you get are brand-new.
- So when you're doing a bouldering,
you're seeing something for the first time
and you need to solve it right there and then?
- Exactly.
So, before you climb something in competition,
usually for the very first time ever,
a really valuable technique and asset to have
is being able to visualize the climb ahead of climbing it.
So, you'll see a lot of climbers doing this kind of, like,
mime dance, ballet movement ahead of doing their climb
because it helps them visualize and get the muscle memory required
before they try something for the very first time ever.
(Zach): Show us how it's done! - Okay.
So, some chalk. - We get our own bag!
- Whoa! - Oh, wow!
I'm gonna wear it like the cool kids do, across body.
- Yeah!
- The chalk is actually a drying agent.
So what it does is it actually dries out your hands
just a little bit.
That way, when you grab onto the holds,
your sweaty hands will not be slipping on the surfaces.
- Do people ever use these on dates?
- Ha! I wish I had chalk on some dates I've been on.
(Keith): Yeah, right? - Because that would make me feel a lot more comfortable
and not worry about my sweaty hands.
- And if it's a bad date, you can climb out of there.
(laughing) (Keith): No problem.
- So, for this one, this is the easiest level.
It says a big "0" right here,
the "V" stands for "bouldering". - Level 0...
- After you start there, you're gonna go all the way up.
You can use the same colour holds
and then, ideally, what you do is you get to the top,
put both hands on the top...
- And say, "I'm the champion!"
- And you've done it,
you've gotten to the top of the boulder
and you solved a boulder problem.
Ideally, trying to keep your arms straighter.
But at the same time,
don't really rely entirely on your skeleton,
because that's how you end up getting shoulder injuries,
which I have had in my past career.
- I rarely think about my skeleton. You know?
- I think about it every day. - Really?
- Yeah. - Well, you have a skeleton
that you have to think about. - Yeah.
- When you complete a climb,
we call, "You sent it." So, full send.
(Keith and Zach): Full send.
- Let's go! - Alright, so here we go.
- Alright, so we're here.
- You're here. Two hands on the start.
- You look so f--
Your body is so big!
You look like Alice in Wonderland
when she bursts out of her home.
You do not belong on this little wall!
(dramatic music) (glass shattering)
(Josh): We're ready. Give it a go!
(Keith): Ah. - Looks good.
- Ah! Giant arms Keith, go. - Excellent.
(shaky exclamation)
- Awesome, can you reach up to these?
Nice! There you go! Very smart.
Try for me just to see, like, hang back a little bit,
with your arms straight. Yeah! Look at you!
(Zach): Nice! (Josh): There you go!
(dramatic music)
- Yeah! Full send!
Full send! Full send! (Josh): Send!
(chuckling)
- Ooh! Ooh!
Yeah! - Alright.
- Whoa. - You did it!
- Ooh! A little scary there at the end,
a little scary there in the end if I'm being honest!
(dramatic music)
(Josh): Lead climbing, in my opinion,
is the most dramatic of the events.
Because in the Olympics, it'll be going last,
and this literally will determine
who wins the gold medal and who does not.
The competitors only have one try.
So you could be in contention to win the gold medal
and fall on the first move. You never know.
I'm gonna be trying to do this green climb,
going all the way up here,
going from start, all the way to the top.
- Oh, my Go-- I can't.
I-I can't even crane my neck that much.
(Keith): Yeah, I hope your stamina bar is...
(indistinct) (laughing): Awesome!
(dramatic music)
- I love this.
It just, it looks so great. - It's like Dr. Strange.
- Isn't it?
- Throw his trap around. - Oh, wow!
Wow. - Okay, here it goes.
(Zach, softly): And... we're off.
(Keith): And we're off. Wow. Here we go.
(Zach): Okay.
(Keith): And now he's gonna attach...
- Now, okay, he's clipped in,
so if he falls, he won't fall hard.
Wow, look at him go.
He's like a little spider monkey. - I know!
- And you have to take your hand off to clip.
(Keith): He's upside-down right now.
He's fully upside-down.
- At what point is he just showing off?
(Zach): Again, it hurts me to look this high up.
- I know. I need to, like, lay down.
(Zach): Mm! Wow!
- When you're laying down, it looks even more confusing.
(Zach laughing): It's so confusing!
(Keith): It's like, "He's upside-down!"
(Zach): What's going on? What's he doing?!
(Keith): He's got his toes... he's toe-hooking.
(Zach): Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow!
This is the best show I've ever been to.
- Yeah.
Wow! He's gonna do it!
(ding!) (Josh): Alright!
(Zach and Keith cheering and applauding)
(Zach): Wow! Guys, come on! - That was incredible!
- Are you kidding me?!
(Josh): Woo! (Zach): Oh, whoa!
(Keith): Holy! That was wild! - Whoa!
You're my hero!
(Keith): That was... crazy.
(Zach): Holy cow! (Josh): Alright.
- You sent that. Right?
(Zach): All that. (chuckling)
We are gonna watch so much of this during the Olympics
and scream our heads off.
- This is thrilling!
I can't believe it took this long
for it to
- Thanks.
- It's finally proof that you can
(music winding down)
(Keith): I'm so sorry. (laughter)
Please don't get out of the video yet.
- So, our goal...
is to get to the top. - Yes.
(Josh): On the difficulty scale, it is a 5.6,
which is on the easier side of things.
- So, let's round it up to a six.
- Yeah, a six, wow! A six!
- Okay. (exhaling sharply)
- Alright, Zach! Yes, look at that.
(Zach): So, we start like this.
(Keith): Sexy hip start. (Josh): Beautiful back step.
He's actually utilizing
some really good technique from earlier
where he's keeping the hip that he wants to move
his hand up with closer to the wall.
Good reach. (Keith): Oh, yeah! Yeah!
There you go. There you go. (Josh): Nice, come on.
Very strong. (Zach): Yeah!
I'm gonna make a big move here. - Oh boy.
(Josh): Nice.
(Keith): Yeah!
Zach, you're doing excellent. - Looking great, man.
(Keith): Yeah! (Josh): Nice!
(Keith): Look at that sender!
- I did it!
(Josh): Woo!
(Josh laughing)
- Yeah, booty!
(Josh): Excellent victory dance.
(narrator):
But before you two go head-to-head in a race to the top,
you should know the Olympic rules.
In the Olympics,
sport climbing works like a triathlon.
Climbers compete in all three disciplines
and receive a combined overall score.
For speed climbing, climbers race one-on-one
to the top of a standardized 15-metre wall
with a five-degree overhang.
If either competitor falls, they lose the race.
A series of elimination rounds
determines the rankings for this discipline.
For boulder, climbers get a set amount of time
to complete as many routes as possible
on a 4.5-metre wall without a rope.
To complete a route, they must reach the top.
But competitors can also score
by reaching a handhold midway up the boulder,
called a zone hold.
Climbers are ranked by adding up the total tops and zones
they earned during their round.
(presenter):
(narrator):
to climb a wall over 15 metres high with a safety rope.
(presenter 2):
(narrator):
and so on, based on how high they get up the wall.
(announcer):
(narrator):
which determines who wins the medals.
An athlete's overall sport climbing score is determined
by multiplying their placements in each discipline.
For example, if an athlete places first in lead climbing,
second in boulder, and third in speed climbing,
their score would be one times two times three,
for a combined score of six.
The lower the score, the better.
- Today, we've learned about all three different disciplines
of competition climbing that'll be in the Olympics:
bouldering, speed climbing, and lead climbing.
And after assessing your abilities,
we're gonna have a final competition on...
the kids' speed-climbing wall.
(both): Wow!
- Alright, so... - Woo!
- Are you ready?
(both): Yeah. - Alright.
- Wait, we've got to do his breathing, Keith,
he goes... (exhaling sharply)
- Alright. Competitors, on your marks...
(Keith exhales sharply) (Zach): Oh.
(Josh): Ready!
Set!
Go!
Come on, guys! (Keith): Oh, Jesus, I almost
fell immediately. (Josh): Go, go, go!
(Zach): Having Keith here is stressing me out, man!
(Josh): Gotta problem solve your way up there!
Looking good!
Uh-oh! Keith's catching up! (Zach): No, he's not!
Don't say that! (Josh laughing)
(Josh): Almost at the top!
And... (Zach): Gah!
(videogame blipping)
(Keith): No! No! (Zach): Yeah!
Wait, we could've done it together. Keith, together!
One, two, three!
(cheering)
The golden rock is mine! - No!
No!
(exhaling loudly)
(Josh): Keith, I am proud to present you the silver rock
in Children's Speed Climbing. - Oh, wow!
(Zach): Yeah! - Thank you.
- You did it. - Wow, thanks!
(Josh): And Zach... - Yeah?
- I'm proud to present you
the first ever golden rock.
- Oh, my God! Thank you so much!
Ah, there are so many people I'd like to thank for this.
Of course, my coach, Josh,
who really taught me everything he knows
and then some.
Thank you.
- I don't know if I'm not afraid of heights now,
but at least I was able to focus in on what I was doing
to conquer that fear in that moment.
This is something I could do again.
It was really fun.
And my forearms were jacked!
- I can't tell you how many times I've been told in my career
that rock climbing isn't a real sport.
- Hm. - I've been told this
at every single level of all society
throughout my entire life.
And to have this opportunity at the world stage
for my sport that I've been doing for so many years,
to be included in the Olympics,
not only means so much to me,
but the entire climbing community as a whole.
(Zach): I think, I'm gonna--
You know what, I'm gonna say it,
I think this is my favourite sport now.
No offense to the other sports in the series.
Keep watching.
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- You look great.
(Keith): I'm so nervous. - Looks good.
So how does this tension feel?
Does it feel like it's pulling you upwards?
- It feels... it feels like we're getting a lift,
if you know what I'm saying. (laughing)