The ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics has reignited people's interest in the niche sport of climbing, especially kids who are at the perfect age to take up the discipline.
Climb-Up Paris, the largest indoor climbing gym in France located in southern Paris, has seen a surge in young participants drawn to its high-quality facilities.
"It's more practical to learn climbing when you are young. They are much more comfortable with heights than adults. They always find a solution, and to climb up the wall, and get up high despite the fact that they are smaller than us and they couldn't be more scared because they have seen fewer things in life," said Cathy Bremaud, the communications director of the center.
Sport climbing is relatively new to the Olympics, debuting at Tokyo 2020. There are two disciplines in Paris, namely speed-climbing up walls and a combined event of wall-climbing plus bouldering, which is performed on lower walls, without a rope.
The center has seen a significant increase in the number of younger members, with a total of 250 new children signing up in the last year.
"Here that works well because people in Paris are always looking for something different, and so for the young ones, a place like this works very well, and we put in place fun activities for them," said Simon Brusco, the climbing development manager of Climb-Up Paris.
Olympics inspire young Parisians to take up sport climbing
