By TALES AZZONI
LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Janja Garnbret and Brooke Raboutou cried together in joy as they hugged after the boulder and lead sport climbing final at the Paris Games on Saturday.
Garnbret had just enhanced her status as one of the biggest stars in the sport by defending her Olympic title. Raboutou was celebrating the first ever climbing Olympic medal for the U.S. women’s team.
“We have an incredible friendship to where we both want each other to do our best, and that’s what happened today,” said Raboutou, who calls Garnbret her idol. “And that feels really good to share that with somebody, and to represent the sport in a way that we know we’re doing it right and we’re doing it for ourselves.”
Garnbret, the Slovenian who won the combined gold when sport climbing made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games three years ago, overcame Raboutou for the victory on the last climb of the day in Le Bourget to secure the gold.
“This was our wish,” Garnbret said. “This was our pact, stand on the Olympic podium together. So she went through a lot. And I’m so happy for her that she made it.”
Raboutou, who trained with Garnbret in Slovenia, said the silver was extra special because of her family connections with France.
“Being half French and having my French family out here and just the support from the crowd, I did feel it,” the 23-year-old Raboutou said. “I know that they’re so dedicated to their nationality, so it feels good to have them support me as well and to have my roots be here and be able to combine them.”
The first climbing medal for the U.S. in Paris came with Sam Watson’s bronze in the men’s speed event. The only other medal ever won by the U.S. climbers was Nathaniel Coleman’s silver in Tokyo in the combined event.
Jessica Pilz of Austria won the bronze.
Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland won the women’s gold in speed on Wednesday.
Leonardo Veddriq of Indonesia won the men’s speed gold, and Toby Roberts of Britain won the men’s gold in lead and boulder.
In Tokyo, boulder and lead were combined with speed, and only one medal each was awarded for the men and women.
No other athlete has won as many international climbing titles as Garnbret, who attracts just as many headlines for her dominance in the sport as she does for being an advocate for eradicating eating disorders from sport climbing.
The eight-time world champion had to be sidelined for a while after breaking her toe last year.
She said anything other than the gold would have meant an “unsuccessful” Olympics for her. The 25-year-old Garnbret said she got worried when she thought she had broken one of her fingers during the climb.
“I was really scared because my finger got stuck in between two holes and I couldn’t get it out,” she said. “But I had so much adrenaline that … I didn’t even care. I said to myself, ‘I don’t care if I’m missing a hand or a finger.’ I would go out there and climb the route.”
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
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