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French professional climber Oriane Bertone at a competition in Switzerland in 2023

Photo: Marco Kost / Getty Images

The World Sport Climbing Association IFSC wants to tackle the problem of eating disorders and anorexia with new rules. Athletes and associations will in future have to list health data in more detail in order to be able to take part in competitions such as World Cups, the Olympic preparation tournaments and the Summer Games in Paris.

As the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) announced on Wednesday, it is about measures against relative energy deficit syndrome in sport (RED-S). This is caused by a lack of calories and can have serious consequences such as anorexia, osteoporosis, missed periods or mental problems.

German doctor left commission in protest

Last year there was great excitement in the climbing scene because athletes and doctors - especially the renowned German sports doctor Volker Schöffl - raised the alarm about malnourished and malnourished athletes. The trend of being thinner and therefore having to pull less weight up the climbing wall has increased.

Schöffl said in the summer of 2023 that there are athletes among the world's top athletes with eating disorders who are actually not allowed to compete. Because, in his opinion, the IFSC did not take consistent enough action against it, the German doctor left the world association's medical commission in protest after his years of work as a medical advisor.

  • Read an interview with Schöffl here in which he explains his retirement.

“Beginning of a journey”

This step apparently had an effect: the world association has now developed a concept on how it wants to better monitor the athletes and their physical condition. Among other things, climbers have to fill out questionnaires with their health data such as height, weight or blood pressure. If there are abnormal values ​​there, the athletes will be closely monitored. They also need certificates from the national associations in order to be able to take part in competitions. The IFSC wants to carry out random checks during the competition season and refer suspected cases to an external commission for evaluation. If the values ​​​​are abnormal, it can also lead to exclusion from competitions.

British climber Shauna Coxsey, chair of the IFSC Athletes Commission, said: "The directive announced today is the start of a journey to make our sport safer because it addresses the complex and sensitive issue."

kjo/dpa