Bouldering Triumph Oceana Mackenzie's Climb

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Oceana Mackenzie, a 22-year-old climber from Melbourne, showcases her skill and mental acuity in bouldering at a sport climbing competition in Paris. Facing changing boulder arrangements, she impresses with a near-perfect performance, highlighting the challenges and excitement of this engaging Olympic sport.  #SportClimbing #Olympics #Bouldering #Athlete #Challenge

Transcript

00:00Oceana Mackenzie enters the arena and faces the first problem she must overcome, a daunting

00:07four-and-a-half-metre wall studded with a seemingly random smattering of protrusions.

00:13Bouldering, a sub-discipline of sport climbing, requires an intriguing combination of gymnastic

00:19strength and mental acuity. Mackenzie, a 22-year-old from Melbourne, must make it up the wall in

00:26as few attempts as possible.

00:30Climbers face their problems, as each climbing course is called, blind. The arrangement of

00:35boulders on a wall is always changing, with route-setters finding new ways to challenge

00:40the athletes.

00:43Before a heat, climbers are segregated in an isolation room, so they cannot watch the

00:48attempts of earlier competitors on that day's problems.

00:53So when Mackenzie walks onto the stage, before a jovial 6,000 crowd on a sunny Tuesday morning

00:59in an outer suburb of Paris, her first task is in the mind-drawing on years of climbing

01:04experience to determine the optimal route to the top.

01:09Fortunately, the problem ahead of her was good news. Mackenzie took a brief, quizzical

01:15look at wall, head cocked to the side as she took it in, before dusting her hands with

01:20chalk.

01:22And then she went one hand here, another foot there, an outstretched arm over there clambering

01:28up the face of the wall with ease and agility.

01:32Bouldering is scored with five segments on the wall each worth five points. Reach the

01:38top and a climber is awarded 25 points, with deductions if prior attempts are unsuccessful.

01:45The competitors attack four problems across a heat, for a total score out of 100.

01:52Mackenzie reached the first point scoring position and then the second.

01:58Before the crowd had a chance to take it all in, she was already at the top of the problem.

02:04Climbers have five minutes per wall, the Australian had taken just 30 seconds.

02:10It was the first perfect score of the day. Perhaps in a nod to Mackenzie's nationality,

02:16the venue DJ had soundtracked her climb to a remix by Australian artist Dom Dollar.

02:23I went out to the first boulder actually feeling quite nervous, Mackenzie said afterwards.

02:30But I saw that it was quite my style, and was feeling confident and determined and knew

02:35that if I just went at it I could flash it.

02:39Sport climbing was added to the programme for Tokyo 2020, where Mackenzie finished 19th.

02:46But like many newer sports, climbing's addition to the Olympic roster has endured

02:51some teething problems.

02:54There are three distinct sub-categories in the sport. Bouldering, where athletes are

02:59not roped, and so fall to the ground in the event of a mishap. Lead, where climbers have

03:04a single six-minute attempt to go as high as possible on a 15-metre wall, and speed.

03:11In Tokyo, all three were combined despite each requiring a very different skill set.

03:18Imagine making 100m sprinters also do high jump and the 1,500m race. For Paris, following

03:27some grumbling within the sport, speed climbing was split into its own event, although lead

03:32and bouldering remain integrated.

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