'I was the only kid who stayed on the wall and didn't want to come off': The making of climbing superstar Janja Garnbret
Janja Garnbret can't remember a time when she wasn't climbing.
As a child growing up in Slovenia, she'd regularly be found racing up trees or scaling the door frames in her house, but it was on the climbing wall where she felt most at home and where her talent eventually shone through.
Yet despite being one of the favorites to win gold at this year's Tokyo Olympics, Garnbret's career didn't get off to the start you might expect.
She came last in her category in her first competition as a child but says she loved the sport too much to care at that stage.
"People always ask me if I was ever comparing myself to other kids, I was actually not," Garnbret, who recently scaled Europe's tallest chimney, tells CNN Sport.
"I was just enjoying myself on the wall and I was just climbing, trying to push my limits. I never thought to myself that I am better than everyone else. I just enjoyed climbing."
After a couple of years of practice and hard work, Garnbret quickly emerged as one of the best climbers in her country.
Her world-class ability then became evident as she entered international competitions and started winning them consistently.
She has gone on to win multiple World Cup events and has her eyes firmly on the postponed Tokyo Games which are set to finally go ahead this summer, which will see sport climbing make its Olympic debut.
'I learned a lot about myself'
The 22-year-old says the initial postponement gave her more time to work on her weaknesses but admitted the uncertainty around the pandemic was difficult to get her head around.
She was fortunate enough to have a climbing wall at home, which she used to keep in good shape during her country's lockdown, but she was tested in ways she hadn't expected.
"I could train, but for me, it was hard because I was always the motivated person. I always had small goals and, of course, big goals and I never had fluctuations in motivation," she says.
"I was always motivated but now it happened to me that I was motivated some days for training, some days not because every competition was postponed. I didn't know myself like that.
"It was just something different and I learned a lot about myself, but I got used to the situation quite quickly."
Organizers remain insistent that the Games will go ahead this year, but there is still an element of doubt that the pandemic could scupper plans once again.
Garnbret is trying to stay positive and is optimistic she'll make her Olympic debut in 2021, despite the situation seemingly changing every week.
"I think Covid last year was just, of course, something new for us and we didn't know what to expect, how to deal with it," she adds.
"But we came prepared into this year with all safety precautions and everything. It's still not a hundred percent, I completely understand that, but I will do my best and I will keep preparing for the Olympics."
Driving four hours a day
Should sport climbing make its debut at this year's Olympics, the competition will be run across three disciplines, each with their own techniques and format.
Bouldering involves navigating as many fixed routes as possible in four minutes on a four-meter high wall with no safety ropes. Lead climbing requires athletes to climb as high as possible on a 15-meter plus wall in six minutes using safety ropes, without reclimbs. Speed climbing has two climbers ascend a parallel route at the same time on a 15-meter wall set at 95 degrees -- sometimes doing so in under 8 seconds. Combined results will determine medalists.
Garnbret says speed climbing is by far her weakest discipline but has a thorough training schedule in place to improve every aspect of her performance.
She trains six days a week, splitting her time between gym work, speed climbing and her usual wall training. Due to a lack of centralized facilities in Slovenia, Garnbret often drives up to four hours a day to attend all her sessions.
It's a regime that requires determination, passion and a tireless work ethic but winning a gold medal would make it all worthwhile.
"I definitely know that every girl will take that extra year to their benefit," she says. "I know every girl has her eyes set on the gold."
"I can't say that I will win the gold because I know everyone will be 100% prepared for that.
"I will definitely keep training and I will be prepared as much as possible when the time comes and then we will see what will happen. But, definitely, I'm looking forward to it."
Promoting healthy climbing
While other athletes will be backed by wealthy sponsors and a team of sport scientists at this year's Olympics, Garnbret knows climbing is not quite at that level.
The Slovenian hopes the opportunity to compete in front of a global audience will go some way towards changing that.
"I think it will be really beneficial to climbing because climbing is still a young sport. It's super young," she says.
"So it's definitely a huge playground for everyone, for sponsors, for some non-endemic sponsors that are still yet to come into our sport. That's definitely something huge."
Due to her success, Garnbret is already a role model to young climbers across the world, and she hopes she can drive the charge for better facilities in her own country.
She also wants to boost a healthy image of the sport, which she says is more important than anything.
Garnbret says the demands of climbing have led to youngsters, especially girls, trying to get lighter. This has, she says, sometimes led to people developing eating disorders in the bid for better results.
She now wants to use her platform to show the next generation of climbers that maintaining a healthy lifestyle can translate into success.
"I just want to set a good example in that you don't need to lose extra weight to be successful," she says.
"I definitely feel responsible for our sport. I just want to represent climbing as a fun sport, that it's always fun, you have to just climb up and enjoy yourself."
She continues: "I remember I fell in love [...] the first time that I tried climbing because it felt so weightless, and it was just me and the wall. I remember that I was the only kid who stayed on the wall and didn't want to come off."
“我是唯一一个留在墙上不想下来的孩子”：攀岩巨星詹嘉·加恩布雷特（ Janja Garnbret ）
Janja Garnbret 不记得她没有爬山的时候。
作为一个在斯洛文尼亚长大的孩子，她经常被发现在她家中攀爬树木或攀爬门框，但在攀岩墙上，她最感到宾至如归，她的才能最终得以展现。
然而，尽管加恩布雷特是今年东京奥运会上夺得金牌的热门人选之一，但他的职业生涯并没有像你想象的那样开始。
在她还是个孩子的第一场比赛中，她在她的类别中名列最后，但她说她太喜欢这项运动了，在那个阶段无法在意。
“人们总是问我是否曾经将自己与其他孩子进行比较，我实际上没有，”最近攀登欧洲最高烟囱的加恩布雷特告诉 CNN Sport。
“我只是在墙上玩得很开心，我只是在攀爬，试图突破自己的极限。我从没想过自己比其他人都好。我只是喜欢攀岩。”
经过几年的练习和努力，Garnbret 迅速成为她所在国家/地区最好的登山者之一。
随着她参加国际比赛并开始持续赢得比赛，她的世界级能力变得显而易见。
她已经赢得了多场世界杯赛事的胜利，并且将目光牢牢盯在了被推迟的东京奥运会上，东京奥运会最终将在今年夏天举行，届时运动攀岩运动将在奥运会上首次亮相。
'我学到了很多关于自己'
这位 22 岁的年轻人说，最初的推迟让她有更多时间来解决自己的弱点，但承认大流行的不确定性让她难以理解。
她很幸运，家里有一面攀岩墙，在她的国家封锁期间，她过去一直保持良好的状态，但她以她意想不到的方式接受了考验。
“我可以训练，但对我来说，这很难，因为我总是有动力的人。我总是有小目标，当然还有大目标，我的动力从来没有波动，”她说。
“我总是很有动力，但现在发生在我身上，有些时候我有动力去训练，有些时候不是因为每场比赛都被推迟了。我不知道自己是这样的。
“这只是一些不同的事情，我学到了很多关于自己的知识，但我很快就习惯了这种情况。”
组织者仍然坚持认为奥运会将在今年举行，但仍然存在一种怀疑，即大流行可能会再次破坏计划。
尽管情况似乎每周都在变化，但加恩布雷特正努力保持积极态度，并对她将在 2021 年首次亮相奥运会感到乐观。
“我认为去年的 Covid 对我们来说当然是新事物，我们不知道会发生什么，不知道如何应对，”她补充道。
“但我们已经做好了今年的所有安全预防措施和一切准备。仍然不是百分百，我完全理解这一点，但我会尽我所能，我会继续为奥运会做准备。”
每天开车四个小时
如果运动攀岩在今年的奥运会上首次亮相，比赛将跨越三个学科，每个学科都有自己的技术和形式。
抱石需要在四米高的墙上在四分钟内完成尽可能多的固定路线，没有安全绳。铅球攀登要求运动员在六分钟内使用安全绳在 15 米多的墙上尽可能高地攀登，不得重新攀登。速度攀登需要两名登山者在 15 米高的 95 度墙上同时攀登一条平行路线——有时在 8 秒内完成。综合结果将决定奖牌获得者。
Garnbret 说速度攀登是迄今为止她最薄弱的学科，但有一个全面的训练计划来提高她的各个方面的表现。
她每周训练六天，在健身房锻炼、速度攀登和她通常的墙体训练之间分配时间。由于斯洛文尼亚缺乏集中设施，Garnbret 经常每天开车四个小时参加她的所有课程。
这是一个需要决心、激情和不知疲倦的职业道德的政权，但赢得金牌会让这一切都变得值得。
“我绝对知道每个女孩都会多花一年的时间来造福他们，”她说。 “我知道每个女孩都把目光放在了黄金上。”
“我不能说我会赢得金牌，因为我知道每个人都会为此做好 100% 的准备。
“我肯定会继续训练，当时机成熟时我会尽可能做好准备，然后我们会看看会发生什么。但是，当然，我很期待。”
促进健康攀登
虽然其他运动员将在今年的奥运会上得到富有的赞助商和运动科学家团队的支持，但 Garnbret 知道攀岩还没有达到那个水平。
斯洛文尼亚人希望在全球观众面前竞争的机会将在某种程度上改变这种状况。
“我认为攀岩会非常有益，因为攀岩仍然是一项年轻的运动。它非常年轻，”她说。
“因此，对于每个人、赞助商以及一些尚未进入我们这项运动的非地方性赞助商来说，这绝对是一个巨大的游乐场。这绝对是一件大事。”
由于她的成功，Garnbret 已经成为世界各地年轻登山者的榜样，她希望自己能够推动自己国家更好的设施建设。
她还想提升这项运动的健康形象，她说这比什么都重要。
Garnbret 说，攀登的需求导致年轻人，尤其是女孩，试图变得更轻。她说，这有时会导致人们为了获得更好的结果而患上饮食失调症。
她现在想利用她的平台向下一代登山者展示保持健康的生活方式可以转化为成功。
“我只是想树立一个很好的榜样，你不需要为了成功而减肥，”她说。
“我绝对对我们的运动负责。我只是想把攀岩描绘成一项有趣的运动，它总是很有趣，你必须爬上去享受自己。”
她继续说道：“我记得我第一次尝试攀爬时坠入爱河 [...] 因为它感觉很失重，只有我和墙壁。我记得我是唯一一个留在墙上的孩子并且不想下来。”
