Even before the final scores were calculated, Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret, the best female sport climber in recent years, dropped her head into her hands and shed tears.
She came into the Tokyo Games as the favorite to win the women’s sport climbing event in its Olympic debut, and said she had felt immense pressure to win. And even under all that stress, she did.
Climbers from Japan joined her on the medals podium: Miho Nonaka won the silver medal and Akiyo Noguchi won the bronze.
“This was the hardest competition of my entire career,” Garnbret said.