By Chang-Ran Kim
PARIS (Reuters) – Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret could have nothing left to prove as arguably the most decorated athlete on earth, but the Olympic sport climbing crown she earned on Saturday was three years in the making, and she was willing to lose a finger for it.
For the 25-year-old, the Paris Games had been a balancing act between relaxing and enjoying the once-in-four-years Olympic experience, and the drive and pressure to fight for the title that the world expected her to keep.
Unusually for the eight-time world champion, that conclusion looked uncertain at one point when she failed to top her last boulder route after appearing to have hurt a finger.
“I was really scared,” she said, recounting how the same finger she had fractured a decade ago had got stuck in a hold. “And I couldn’t get it out. So I was scared that I’d fractured something.
“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 will go out there and climb the route.'”
Garnbret has a combined 53 titles in the world championships and World Cups since 2016, and dozens more silver and bronze medals.
But the Olympics stage was unique, she said, and nothing short of a gold medal would be enough.
“The Olympics are every four years. You need to enjoy (it) because otherwise you will regret it forever… (But) I also have to say, any other medal would have been an unsuccessful Olympics for me.”
Garnbret said that after winning gold at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games, where the sport debuted in 2021, her mind was immediately focused on Paris.
“I planned every year to be the best that I can be in Paris,” she said.
That journey proved rough, with a broken toe sustained at the start of the qualifier season. Garnbret, whose Instagram account includes a “FAILS” album as if to remind followers of her fallibility, confessed to struggling with fears, ups-and-downs, “the good days and bad days and everything in between”.
Ultimately, her Paris Games met a perfect end at the top of the podium, with close friend Brooke Raboutou beside her with a silver.
Asked what comes next – she would be 29 at the Los Angeles Games – Garnbret’s mind was on the more immediate future this time.
“Rock climbing right now. And vacation on the beach!”
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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