Wednesday July 14, 2021
Megos prefers to climb rocks
Olympic debutant expects games without fun
Climbing is Olympic for the first time in Tokyo. Also there is Alex Megos, one of the best rock climbers in the world. The Franconian can win a medal, although the circumstances are completely different than expected. He gets his motivation right in the middle of the pandemic.
Alexander Megos already climbed his very personal Olympus in summer 2020 – curiously thanks to Corona. When thousands of athletes mourned the summer games postponed because of the pandemic, the middle Franconian packed his climbing equipment and drove to France with his girlfriend. There he had long worked on the hardest rock climbing route in the world that no one had ever conquered. And then the strong and wiry athlete made the route, in a primal scream he roared the annoyance at the cancellation of the Olympics as well as joy and relief at his historic achievement on the rock massif of Céüse in the French Alps.
Almost a year later, Megos still likes to think back to this day in August 2020, he will not forget the impressions and emotions for his entire life. “It was such a satisfaction, such a milestone,” says Megos. “It was worth a lot more than any competition I’ve ever won.”
The most important sporting event in Megos’ career is only just around the corner. The 27-year-old wants to amaze the climbing world once again at the Tokyo Summer Games. The blond from Erlangen is one of two German starters (alongside Jan Hojer) for a medal.
The top favorites for gold are the Japanese Tomoa Narasaki and Adam Ondra from the Czech Republic. However, because the medals are awarded in a complicated arithmetic of results from three individual competitions, it is difficult to make a prognosis, and small mistakes can have a big impact immediately. “It’s hard to say,” says Megos.
No real joy at the Olympics
Megos knows about the Olympic hype – but he’s not entirely happy with it, especially not in the middle of the pandemic. No spectators, very strict hygiene regulations, as little contact with other athletes as possible: This is not how Megos Olympia had imagined when he decided in autumn 2018 to fight for the summer game qualification.
Despite his fame and sponsors, Megos is an old-school climber, more of a free spirit than a tough competitor, more outdoor fanatics than climbing gym hackers. Yellow T-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, brightly colored socks, that’s how you usually see him. The fact that he had to choose official DOSB clothes for the Olympics and then be strictly controlled in Japan – because of Corona – that greatly reduces the anticipation of Tokyo. Anticipation? “It won’t have much to do with joy,” he predicts. “It doesn’t look like this is going to be a fun event.” National coach Urs Stöcker even speaks of a “prison” when it comes to the accommodations of his small team and the flair of the summer games in general.
“I’ll take part now and do my best. Then let’s see what happens,” says Alex Megos. He has shown the climbing world several times that the Franconian can surpass himself. In 2013, he caused a sensation when, at the age of 19, he was the first mountaineer to manage a rock route of difficulty 9a onsight. This means that you can climb the route on the first attempt without having seen another athlete on the wall beforehand.
Motivation hole in the pandemic
And then came August 5th, 2020 and Céüse’s coup: Megos managed the 35-meter-long overhanging section of rock in one go, sometimes you can only hold on to the route called “Bibliography” with one or two fingers. As the only climber of the wall to date, Megos has rated the route with a 9c. In the whole world there is only one other rock that is also considered a 9c, namely the route “Silence” in Norway, which Adam Ondra managed in 2017.
Alexander Megos says of his success, for which he toiled for a total of 60 days over the years: “That comes close to a gold medal at the Olympics.” Ironically, Céüse could even be an important piece of the puzzle on the way to a medal in Tokyo. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, Megos was in a motivation hole, he no longer felt like tormenting himself in halls and weight rooms for the summer games and foregoing rock trips. When the games were canceled and the first lockdown was lifted, he used the months that had become free to escape to his favorite terrain.
“Now I was almost exclusively on the rock for a year, that was good,” he says. The motivation is back, he did well in the competitions this year. Who knows, maybe on August 5th, exactly one year to the day after his coup on the rock of Céüse, he will also make it to the top of the artificial wall in Tokyo.
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