Molly aims to scale new heights

British climber hopes to use her success to help popularize new Olympic sport among minorities

LONDON - Molly Thompson-Smith is dreaming of a medal when climbing makes its debut at next year's Tokyo Olympics, and she hopes her exploits will encourage more black people to take up the sport.

The 21-year-old, who is vying to be one of the two female British climbers at the Games, told AFP she is keen to change the image of the sport as being the preserve of whites only.

Thompson-Smith, who showed her potential when she became the first British woman to win a medal in a World Cup event in November 2017, said she wants climbing to be accessible to all.

"Ninety percent of black people have not climbed before and I would like to change that," Thompson-Smith said at the launch of thinkBeyond Talent, an agency focused on supporting athletes to use their talent to bring about positive social change.

"I would definitely like my position in the sport to be about more than the performance element.

"It is my life and revolves around a strong community lifestyle. I would love to have more people who look like me involved.

"I would like to work with the British Mountaineering Council and use advertising to encourage a broader group of people to climb walls."

Thompson-Smith, who will also use social media to spread the message, said by performing well she can raise the sport's profile among ethnic minorities.

"It is easy to gravitate to sports role models you can connect with and relate to," she said.

"Climbing is linear and everyone looks the same. There is a lack of different role models and that probably stops black kids getting involved.

"It is easier to want to be like your favorite footballer who looks like you and you can see a path that way, so I am hoping I can be a role model for them."

The climbing event at the Tokyo Olympics will feature three disciplines - speed climbing, bouldering and lead climbing.

Started early

The eloquent Thompson-Smith, whose German boyfriend and fellow climber Jan Hojer is also bidding to compete at the Olympics, first got the climbing bug when celebrating her seventh birthday.

"Up until that birthday party I had a sporting theme every year but once I discovered climbing there was no point having a party with sports involved the next year," said Thompson-Smith, who said she was blissfully unaware how her guests viewed being asked to climb a 10-meter wall.

"It's a sport which does not feel like a sport ... that's the best way I can describe it. It is a challenge both physically and mentally.

"It does not feel like your average netball game or going for a run. This is way beyond standard activity."

Thompson-Smith's fearlessness on the wall is in stark contrast to her squeamishness off it.

She is proud of her "Frankenstein" finger on her left hand - she gave it its name due to the zigzag stitches.

But when she underwent the operation to fix the ruptured three pulleys, which keep the tendons close to the bone, it was a very different story.

"I only had a local anaesthetic. There were tears during the operation and plenty after it too," she said.

"I am very squeamish. I cannot go to the dentist because of the injections and I faint at the sight of my blood being taken."

The squeamishness was matched by her determination to get back on the wall - which she did 20 days after surgery but with only one hand operational.

Such single-mindedness should stand her in good stead for both her goal of going to the Olympics and ultimately making the sport in England more diverse. It's a challenge she relishes.

Agence France-Presse