26: Olga Niemiec, IFSC Olympic Routesetter
Olga is an official IFSC routesetter, and she recently came back from Paris, where she helped set the Olympic boulder rounds. In this episode, we'll learn about what it takes to become an IFSC setter, what it was like setting at the Olympics and trying to make the rounds fair, and how she balances setting, training, and traveling all while being a single mother.
Show Notes
Guest links:
Reference links:
Boulder + Lead routesetting guidelines and point distribution goals
Timestamps
Timestamps of discussion topics
0:00 - Break after Paris
2:35 - Climbing since childhood and being a team kid
5:36 - Almost an Olympic snowboarder...
7:28 - First time routesetting...was at an international comp
16:26 - Becoming an IFSC routesetter
20:09 - Setting for boulder vs lead
21:57 - Dealing with the boulder setting guidelines
26:06 - Trying to balance boulder vs lead difficulty at the Olympics
35:36 - Height and route setting - The Ai Mori problem
39:38 - Setting for men vs women
42:30 - Setting for future Olympics?
46:54 - Raising 2 little climbers
48:26 - Competing again after giving birth
53:21 - Hospitalizations in Budapest and Paris
55:54 - Balancing training, traveling, motherhood
57:47 - Non-climbing activities and snowboarding
1:02:08 - Discord Q: How do you deal with negative setting comments?
1:07:31 - Discord Q: Should the 2 zone format stay or go?
1:10:15 - Discord Q: How do you improve your route setting skills?
1:12:59 - Discord Q: Unique challenges you face being a setter and mother
1:15:55 - Where to find Olga
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We were talking with the lead team, but it was more like, ha, your route is hard?
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Yes, it's hard. For example, that was the conversation. Nothing more. All of the females
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can reach. Is it for sure not more for? And we were checking like really a lot of times,
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and we put a lot of, a lot of tension about it. I never consider pregnancy as a disability,
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and I really wanted to continue my climbing even if I'm pregnant.
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During the first day of setting, like I skipped the first day because I was in the hospital, but
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I was barely able to walk on the first floor in the hotel.
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Welcome to another episode of the That's Not Real Climbing podcast. I'm your host Jinni,
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and I'm excited to introduce my guest for today, Olga Niemiec. Olga is an official IFSC route setter,
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and she recently came back from Paris where she helped set the Olympic boulder rounds. In this
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episode, we'll learn about what it takes to become an IFSC setter, what it was like setting
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at the Olympics and trying to make the rounds fair, and how she balances setting, training,
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and travel all while being a single mother. It's insane. I hope you enjoy this episode with Olga.
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How was your vacation after the Olympics, after Paris?
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I took one week of holidays in Portugal, and that was good. That was good, quite calm. I was just
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surfing, no climbing at all. So that was a pleasure. How long have you been surfing?
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I'm totally beginner. I guess it's kind of my second love, and I really want to
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go for it as often as possible. Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit hard for you to get
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opportunities to surf, I assume. You live in, I guess, where do you live right now? Poland.
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Yeah, it doesn't really seem like a surfing location. Not really. I have one hour to the
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mountains and six to the sea. So hard to get practice in. I just tried surfing for the second
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time a few weeks ago, and it is fun. I think I get it. I might try to get into it. It's just great.
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Yeah, maybe one day we can try it sometime. That would be awesome. Yeah, so let's get right into it.
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How long have you been climbing, and how did you get into climbing? I've been climbing since I was a kid.
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Both of my parents are climbers. So I started, I was barely walking when I started climbing.
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But yeah, because my parents were taking me to the crags, and they were climbing, and I was just hanging around.
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But I started climbing, like, well, I wanted to start climbing when I was around seven, I guess.
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And until that time, I'm climbing with a few breaks in between. And then you also used to
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compete a bit yourself, right? Correct. When I was a kid, when I was seven, I've already started to
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train with a small group of the kids in Poland. And we already started also to compete in the
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competition in Poland, as kids. Yeah, so since always.
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Okay, so you're kind of like a team kid too. Yes, it's kind of funny. I started actually with the group
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where was Marcin Szoek, another EFSC road setter right now. And we are in the same group with the kids,
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because we are from the same city. Okay, so how long did you compete for?
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Well, I stopped after one and a half, two years, more or less, and he was continuing climbing.
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Yeah, because I was interested in different stuff at that time. And then I came back again after a
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one year break, and they were way better than me. So I joined a different group, and then I was
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climbing one or two years, and I stopped again for one or two years. And I was like, go.
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Today's in Camelback, and it was like, I don't know. I've never climbed like full three times in years.
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So you didn't have competition climbing aspirations as an athlete?
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I did. But when I was around 14, 15, 16, and that time I was competing a lot in the Polish Cups,
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Polish Junior Cups. I was on the podium. Then I turned to be senior, and I was still competing
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as a senior. And I was also competing in the finals. Yeah, basically all the time in the finals of the
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national competition. Did you ever do international competitions?
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No, just once. I was not ready. It was just three spots, and I just took this spot. And then so I
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competed in the World Cup one time, but I was almost last, I guess. But I fell from hard
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holders on the top, so not so far. Yeah, but the result was good.
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Nothing wrong with that. How did you make the decision to retire from competing and I guess
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eventually get into route setting? So when I was that time, when I was 15,
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I was also snowboarding, and I was in the national team of snowboard. And so I was competing in two
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sports in the same time in winter, more on the board, summer more climbing. And I was more focused
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on snowboard, even joined to the Olympic team. I qualified for Olympic Games in snowboard, and I
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and I quick, like half six months before in peaks, I don't know, maybe eight months before.
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Because we didn't agree with my coach, it was a big problem. And I said, like, I don't want to
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do it anymore. I just want to climb. And I quit from snowboard. And so, yes, beginning of the
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then I started climbing. And I was focused just on climbing. Whoa, wait. Okay, so I had no idea
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about this whole snowboarding thing. So you were going to be an Olympic snowboarder? Yeah.
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Wow. So you were doing like, you were competing in two different things at once, I guess. That's
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kind of a lot to handle. Yeah, but that time snowboard was like the first sport for me.
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I was really focused on that. And climbing was like just my passion. And I just love to do it.
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And it was just on the side, let's say. So when I was competing, I was going to the finals,
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but never with the huge success because it was not what I was focused about. Yeah. And I stopped
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snowboarding when I was 21. So it was already a bit too late for real career as a fiber athlete.
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Well, I guess you at least eventually made it to the Olympics in some way. So that's really cool.
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So at what age did you get into route setting?
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In one point, we had a huge international competition in Poland. And I was already
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competing in this competition in previous years. So I was expecting I would be in the finals.
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But I knew during the final day of the competition, I will be already in Spain for outdoor climbing,
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because I bought the tickets to Spain before they announced the competition date.
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So I really wanted to be a part of this competition. And I felt like, OK, if I can compete,
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maybe I can set the competition. But why not? And I asked my friend, who was the organizer,
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maybe it's possible to join. And he said, OK, I will ask the chief. I think yes. But let's see.
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And the chief agreed. My friend agreed. And that's how I ended up in the team.
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OK. Yeah, it's kind of crazy that they just let you set just from asking,
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not knowing how your setting was before then.
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I think they didn't know I never set.
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Yeah. I mean, you'd think they would be able to tell once you started setting the first time.
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I don't know. Nobody said nothing. They were to focus on their brothers.
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And that was cool. I mean, they knew that I'm a good climber. My climbing level is high enough
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to set this kind of competition. So I think that time nobody really thought about it,
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about experience and setting. The team was experienced. I was, of course, working for free.
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So they just said, OK, go for it.
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So was that actually like literally your first time setting ever?
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Yes. Yes. Yes. And it was a big competition with international athletes, like really good.
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That time that was Ruptov, he was winning the World Cups and he registered.
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So one of that leaves and a few different people. So for me, it was a huge event.
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But even from Poland, it was quite big.
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Do you remember what you were feeling at the time as you were setting your first time?
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Yeah, because I didn't know what should I expect then. I had no expectations before.
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And I just wanted to have a fun and climb on the final boulders. That was my goal.
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And it turned out it's something what I like to do in my life.
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Yeah. And I think I was surprised how nice is it, how fun is it, how good is it,
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how big pleasure I can have during the setting and during the competition days.
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And I just remember it was a good time for me.
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I still just can't really wrap my head around how you set finals boulders your first time,
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because I've only tried route setting once. And I had an idea in mind of a move I wanted to set,
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or maybe how I wanted something to feel, but it just didn't come through at all.
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How did you make that happen the first time?
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Well, I don't know exactly what was in my head that time. I guess I've just put the
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holes on the wall. I tried to find a nice section in between them, I guess. But it was not really,
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I want this move and I tried to put them the move on the wall. I don't think so. It was this way.
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It's randomly I worked like that. So maybe it was just a freestyle. I liked it.
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Okay. I guess maybe it comes naturally to you somehow.
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I don't know. I think it's easier if you're an athlete, you were an athlete,
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you know what you expect. You exactly know the level of the boulder which should be on the wall.
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So it's a bit more natural than to come from nowhere and try to set the boulder
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where you don't actually know the level of the...
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Yeah, okay. Yeah, that makes sense. So then when did you become an IFSC route setter?
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It happened in 2021. I got an official appointment as a junior route setter.
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Okay. So how did you get that? I think me and a lot of other listeners don't really know
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the process for becoming an official IFSC route setter. I think also a lot of people don't
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know that there is a difference between official IFSC route setters and I guess just setters who
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set for a few World Cups. So can you sort of explain the difference between official setters
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and how you, I guess, got that junior setting license?
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So we have a pool of around 40 international IFSC route setters.
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And we are able to set the World Cups, World Championships, youth competition, etc., etc.
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And each year we are nominated to set around two competitions per person.
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And these nominations are fully made by IFSC. They are official. You can find them on the IFSC
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website. If you are not an IFSC route setter, you can't be nominated by the International Federation.
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You can, like now, now the few years ago process was not super clear. Now it's really clear. And
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it said that if you, like exactly this year, a lot of things changed. So I'm not sure if I should
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tell you how it is exactly now or how it was when I was started. I was starting out in the
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first year. So now the system has been changed and we have the levels. So there is level one,
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two, three and four of IFSC route setters. Level, starting from level four, that means you can be
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the chief or the World Cups or the high level competition, like Olympic Games or World Championships.
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And level three, you mean you can be the part of the team of the highest level competition,
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but also you can be chief of the lowest round competition, like European Cups or Asian Cups.
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Level two means you can be chief of the continental Cups, but like you are not nominated,
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you don't, you won't have nominations for the World Cups. So it's like level lower.
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Level one means you can't be the chief of the continental Cups, but you can be the part of the team.
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So yeah, for like level two, maybe not like chiefing World Cups, but can you still set at World Cups?
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Okay, so from down, so level one, you can be the team of the continental Cups. Level two,
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you can be the chief of the continental Cups. Level three, you can be the chief of the
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continental Cups, but also you can be the team member of the World Cups. Level four,
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you can be the chief of the World Cups. Okay, cool. That makes sense. And so this is like brand new,
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this year? Yes, it happened this year in February, I think. So they made this hierarchy and it's full,
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um, everything gets on the website of the FSC page. So you can find it, like everybody can find it.
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And then, then at least with the names and the levels, which, which they get. Um, for that,
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we didn't have levels. It was just the IFSC title. And that was level three and level four,
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they was together, but separated by like chief EFSC, the IFSC chiefs and just IFSC road settles.
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And level one, level two, it was, um, I think it was, um, managing by the European council,
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IG council, et cetera, et cetera. So those road settles who were nominated for the continental
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cups, they were not in the official pool, but somehow the names were written somewhere. But
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I don't really how it was because I've never been in this European pool. So I can't really tell you
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how it was before. All right. And so then how did you, you said you, um, got into it because you
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had a junior setting license? Yes. So they created for a couple of years, like two or three maximum.
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It was like junior, uh, my four years, sorry, but I don't really know, but it was a kind of the
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junior title, junior EFSC. And that will, that was basically level three, or it was just like,
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we were paid like normal EFSC, uh, EFSC status. We were nominated like normal EFSC status,
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but we, it was kind of like, look, they are new. So it was like, I don't know, like the beginning,
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beginning for us. So how did you get nominated? Just like someone else knew you who already had
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an official license? I was, yes, I was setting the world caps before I got my nomination.
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And so, um, yeah, I was, I was in a, in a, in the environment, if I can say so. Um,
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and I got the recommendations from the other EFSC status. So then I guess how did you
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set your first world cup? I'm just, I, I'm like pressing on this a lot, but I think it's because
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a lot of people just even want to know how to like break into that, that kind of, uh, that kind of
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job. I asked and they say yes. Okay. I'm sorry. Okay. I mean, now it's, it's really hard to do
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this that way. And I have to sit right to make it really clear and try to make it a clear pathway
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and create the path for the new roots that us would like to grow and to become an EFSC in the
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future. And it makes sense to believe, um, as few years ago, it was more, or I don't know, more
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freedom choosing who will be in the team. I mean, there were some people who were nominated
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officially, but the rest of the team were, were, was, was chosen by organizer, organization,
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rather chief could say, maybe we can take this or this person. So everything was more,
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yeah. In between my friends, maybe not a good word, but, uh, it wasn't so clear and so obvious
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and so far, let's say. And that's why now it's changed to be really far for everybody.
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To give everybody the same chances to be a part of the world. I had this, this, this, um,
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lucky that, uh, Martin was the chief and I asked Martin, maybe you want to take me. And he said,
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okay, I will ask if, if, if organization, if I have to see the brief so you can join and, uh,
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yeah, and I joined. All right. So then for people wondering, I guess, sometimes the answer is just
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ask, but now there's, um, it's good to hear that they have more of a process now. So it's a bit
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more clear. I think so. I mean, still there is still the pro there is a still way to ask,
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but on the lower level. So now there are world caps, but, uh, there are still like continental
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caps. You can try to set, um, like, first of all, you should put like, first of all, to be if I see
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I FSC route, you need to have the national license. And of course I got it when, when I was
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applying, like, this is the first step. So first you need to set national competition. Then once
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you get your national license, try to set international competition and like step by step.
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And I did it of course, uh, but quite fast. Yeah. Really impressive how fast you moved up the ranks,
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I guess. Um, so you've set for both, um, Boulder world cups and lead world cups. Do you have a
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preference of setting for one or the other? Not really. I think I miss now I miss lead a lot
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because I didn't set an elite competition this year, but once I had a season with just one
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builder competition and free lead, I was missing Boulder. So in, in yeah, I, I, I prefer to mix
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them and to have, let's say to, to lead to a border competition per season. That would be perfect.
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What do you like about each one? Um, he, I like the free spell, which we have as a team,
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the vibes are different in the team. We are more, I don't know, more, it's more funny. It's,
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it's more jokes. We, we, we are all together on the mat. So we are a group. Uh, we can,
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yeah, we have a fun time together, like really cooperate in between. We can jump from one
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burlar to the other, take a break, steering a car, whatever you want. So, so the vibes are
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fully different in the lead. It's just me and somebody on one lift. And it's really intense
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one hour together with one person or three hours sometimes. And we're really focused on the lead,
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on the route. And we are like joking in between, of course, but it's different vibe. And the
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whole process is longer. Uh, like you climb just more, most of the time, just one per day.
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Uh, in border, you climb and jumped million times per day. So like the dynamic in the team is, is
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totally different. And I like both. And so with the, um, Boulder setting, um, I feel like recently
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I've been hearing more about like these Boulder setting guidelines. I don't know if that was just
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for the Olympics or, um, if it's going to be for world cups as well. Um, they mentioned, you know,
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it's like a power Boulder coordination, Boulder, balancey, um, electric, I forget all four of the
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names. You can correct, correct, correct. Um, so was that just for the Olympics or is that going
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forward? The new guidelines? Well, we've now with your question, I'm confused to be honest. Um,
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so I know a lot of people will listen to us and I don't want to make the, I don't want to
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give you the wrong answers. Uh, in my opinion, it was just for the combined competition.
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So for those, which me, we also had the lead and we need to compare two disciplines together.
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But I mean, I'm, but I'm not working in the IFC board. I don't know what will happen in next
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in next season. I have no ideas about any decisions. So it's just from my experience, I can say
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last year we didn't have a guy in last for the world cups, but this year we had guidelines for
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the combined competition. And as far as I know, they need to use them during the world caps,
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those guidelines. Okay. Okay. That's good to know. I don't know how it will be in next season.
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06. Did you feel like with the guidelines, it's made setting easier or does it kind of hurt your
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creativity? 07. Definitely annoying. Um, in the beginning, I was quite psyched and I was happy.
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We have this clear four types of puller, which make the competition maybe more fair, but afterwards,
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it's, it's, it's killing the creativity of the status. And, um, after this free competition in
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a road, when I was forced to use, uh, uh, the same style of the bullers all over, all over, all over
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again, it's really tiring. And I prefer to mix the styles more to try to balance the round,
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try to balance the styles, but more reasonable. Don't put one coordination. It's, it's my,
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in my opinion, it's better to mix it and to put, let's say coordination will start and then finish
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the buller a pace square or a positive one. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, so I definitely, I hope we
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won't have any guidelines next year, at least not so strict. So not really focus one style per buller,
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but I don't know how it will end up. Are you worried that with this format, it's too easy
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for the athletes to learn as well? Like they know what to expect and what to kind of train for?
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Hmm. I don't think so. I, I, no, I don't, I don't think so. It's easy for them or easier or harder.
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It's, it's like, you always have four problems. It's, it's always coordination somewhere. It's
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always slap somewhere. It's always physical somewhere. So, so, it's, it's just, you have
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one style in one buller. That's it. So we try to avoid the two coordination problems, for example,
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one round. And we, when we don't have on guidelines, we can play tiny more. So, so we can put the
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balance section on the different type of the wall than the slab. We can create the slab with the
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volumes, for example, and make that the balance, the, the technical climbing, but with these
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guidelines, we are always ending up with the balance slow slab, which we try to make a bit
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fast. But like for me, it started to be all over the same. There was a lot of pressure at the
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Olympics for the setting and creating equal setting between the boulder and lead rounds. And there
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were also different setters for boulder versus for lead. So how do you make sure that the boulder
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lead round is not too difficult one way or the other? Please excuse this brief intermission,
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but I've gotten a few requests for this. So I just wanted to announce that if you're interested in
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helping support the show, my Patreon page is now live. Some perks include ad free interruption
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If you'd like to support the podcast non monetarily, liking, commenting, and sharing
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helps a great deal as well. Back to the show. So that's why we had a guy in lines and that was
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the different type of the game lines, not just the styles as also how many tops do you want? How many
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points for first, second, third place, etc, etc, etc. How many tops you want in whole around?
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How many people will go to the second zone first? So like this all statistics were in the game lines.
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And thanks to that, we didn't need to really communicate in between, we just tried to fit
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in the guidelines with our predictions. And that's why the guidelines was created to make our job
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easier. And it worked for sure. So we knew how we knew which kind of results we we expecting.
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And we knew if we will fit in the guideline with these expectations, and the lead will
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fit with their expectations, exactly in their guidelines, then we will be we will like meet in
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the proper balance in between two disciplines. Do you know what the lead guidelines were?
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Oh, no, I don't remember. But like similar. So like, I don't know, first place in between.
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I don't I don't know 95 100 points. And then second place in between this and this points,
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first place, fourth place, etc, etc, etc. So they were like trying to reach this whole that for
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for for for each place, like to reach them down the good number with the points.
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So like, I think for Boulder, you mentioned that they have to you kind of say like, what percentage
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you think will get 510 or 25 points? Did it work out to the percentages that you were expecting? Or
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were there any big surprises there? For sure not not not in each round. So for example, the men's
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semi final was too hard. I mean, we can see it when you were watching it, and you need to see
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the guidelines to know it. So yes, we didn't fit the guidelines because it was slightly too hard.
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But I don't really now I didn't have I would need to have a paper and to see the results again,
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and to refresh it. Because I'm not really good in statistics. I'm not really good in thinking
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how many no, no, no, no, no, no, more emotional person. So I do not know, surely if we feed
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perfectly. But to be honest, I don't think so, because it's really hard to do it. And this is
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just a guideline. It's not something what we have to do. It's like, it would be nice if you can
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reach this goal. But it's not like, it's not now I know just French word obligatory, sorry.
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So like, for example, for men's semis, if the boulder was too hard, do you then go and talk to
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the lead setters and they adjust it so that lead is like, equally as hard or they make it a bit
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more difficult? No, no, no, no, we had this unwritten rule that once the boulder round started,
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the lead team is not touching the lead route. So whatever will happen on the boulder side,
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they won't change anything on the lead. And that's enough. Otherwise, they can turn the results.
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So like I said, oh, we have this and this. Okay, let's let's I don't know, make the route harder.
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Like it's opening the door for cheating. Like, oh, this guy made a bouldering, let's make this
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section easier and gave him more points. You know what I mean? It's opening the unsure results.
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So they didn't, they never, they never changed the route after the boulder round.
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Okay, I see how it could open it to cheating. But then I guess people also might be upset that,
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oh, like it favors lead or, or I guess it wouldn't favor lead specialists, but that it favors.
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Wait, how does this work? Wait, yeah, it gets confusing. Okay, so if the if the lead round is
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easier, then it's like it goes against the lead specialists.
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Yeah, not really. Because let's say when the guy, one guy who is, who is not the list specialist,
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oh no, I know, I know, I know how you can do it. So you can put just turn up the lead route and
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make the cracks in the lead route. And then everybody will fall in the white point or most
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of them will fall. And doesn't matter if you're a lead specialist or not, you will fall in,
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you will fall somewhere. So for the boulders, it's, it's, it's, it's not really good to,
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to fall on that. I don't know, number 20. But if you're a medium lead, you also fall in this point.
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Or you can make the section easier to, to, to push the lead guys higher. It makes sense.
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Yeah. I think that makes sense. But I guess I, it seems I get confused by it anyway.
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For sure you can play with the results. For sure. Like you can easily do it. If you know,
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if you already know the places from one to 10, you can know, oh, this guy is really poor in
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crimps. Let's put this crimp, uh, better, worse, whatever side you prefer, but you can really
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create that potentially dangerous situation when you play with who will win or not.
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I mean, they try to avoid this situation. They try to avoid somebody who will come and say,
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Hey, you change it just, just half an hour before maybe you want to do this or this or this or this
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athlete. So to avoid any suspicions, it's like, it's done. We didn't see the, the puller round.
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We didn't know what will happen. We had this scenario, but we are not touching the roots.
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And that's why we had the guidelines. So if, if you, if you were following the guidelines,
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you're supposed to be more or less sure the root or the puller round fit into the guidelines.
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Well, like we were talking with the lead team, but it was more like, ha, your route is hard.
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Yes, it's hard. For example, that was the conversation. Nothing more. Do you think you
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will have a top? No, we don't think so. We have a top. Oh, good. Because we also have a good,
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hard round for our four pullers. So it's like not really real talk.
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Did you get to like see each other's like boulders and lead route while you're setting?
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We were working behind the curtain as a puller team, so we didn't really see them,
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but they, they, they said they, they, they, they was, they were hearing me. They said,
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yeah, I was quite loud. They were seeing us from the top of the lift, but time to time when they
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didn't, didn't, didn't have a job or they had just to leave. So when some time to time when
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leaf was, was occupied for different stuff. So time to time the guys from the lead team just came
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behind our curtain just to hang up, see, watch something. But it was just to, to be with us for
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a second. But no, we were totally working as a two separate teams. I don't know how was the
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connection between chiefs because I don't know that they had a lot of meetings. I think they
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had a meeting so every day. So that was a big communication, but not on my level as just as a
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team end up. Okay. Makes sense. Yeah. I mean, I feel like it turned out pretty well and I
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was listening to like another podcast that you had done. I heard you say that you felt the setting
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was not perfect, which kind of surprises me because it seems like people actually mostly liked the
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setting at Paris. I mean, you know, like online people will always be very loud if they're
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upset about the setting or if, yeah, if they were not happy with the results or anything like that.
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But I think people were mostly positive, which is very rare. So I guess like congrats on that.
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First of all, there was, there was like, of course, a couple of things that people mentioned. I think
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one thing was the, like the men's semis being hard. And then the, I feel like the only other thing
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that I saw on like Reddit or YouTube comments or whatever was about once again, the setting being
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too high for ImLaurie. So what kind of precautions did you take as setters to avoid this? And also
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like how tall are you? Well, I'm 158 centimeters with zero span. As far as I know, I is 154. So
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four centimeters in between us. As I mentioned before, I don't know how big is her span,
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but not minus as far as we know. So it's rather four centimeters less than mine or a bit less if
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she has a plus. Well, we were thinking about the sizes all the time, both for men and for the
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females. So there are athletes who are not in average. So each time we were wondering,
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oh, maybe this guy can reach, should we move it further? Are we sure this guy can't cheat?
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Because it's mostly about the guys or with the females. Okay. Are we sure all of the females
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can reach? Is it for sure not more full? And we were checking like really a lot of times and we
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put a lot of a lot of passion about it. And we spend hours about some movements,
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talking, trying to find a good balance to don't make something rich. And we're really,
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really focused about it. Are you happy with how it turned out?
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Well, I'm not happy because we had an athlete who didn't start the boulder and it's not nice, never.
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But instead of being sad, I'm more disappointed because I'm sure this move was not more full.
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I'm just sure. So I'm disappointed it happened like that. This move was totally different in
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the really beginning, totally different. And we changed it because we thought it's more full.
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And it was even worse than we had actually during the Olympic games, the worst in terms of the
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morphologies. And I was like, no, it's just more fun. It came like that. And we climb with Tsukasa
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and said, no, no, it's just more fun. It's not hard. It's more fun. So we changed that move
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for the move which was during the Olympic games. And we decided as a team, this move is a game.
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And it's just sad. And I think the same question before that, that's the, yeah,
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but that I didn't start. And it's just, you know, we want to have a fur round. We're really
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expecting we will give the athletes the fur field of play. We are like, this is our job to make it
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fur. It's something which we want. We want to have the best athlete on the podium. We want to show
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how good they are, how strong they are, how great the athletes are, and give them the opportunity
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to fight, to show the greatest. And it's always sad if the bulldozers, let's say, are too hard,
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and then you are, okay, we should do this and this and this to let them play. Or if the bulldozers
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are too easy, same, not good scenario. So there is always a lot of disappointment and sadness
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in the setting team if they're wrong, it's not as good as we were expecting.
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Karly Yeah, so I guess it was more just like the expectation that she should have been able to
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do it.
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Anastasia Yes, definitely. Definitely. I had more doubts.
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Karly Yeah, I feel like people don't really complain about the height difference in setting
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for men so much. It is a pretty big difference as well, right? Like setting for maybe like Paul's
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height versus like Sasha's height. Anastasia Yes, I don't know why the people don't
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complain for that. No. Karly I mean, that is a bigger difference in terms of height, right?
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Anastasia Probably. Between Sasha and Paul, probably yes. Then in between I and the biggest
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was Shianni, I think. Yeah, maybe it's bigger, different. I don't know. I mean,
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men are more dynamic than females, for sure, like in general. So the ability of doing
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easy dynamic movement in easy in terms of intensity, it's not so difficult for men. So
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in my opinion, the differences in the dynamic in females are bigger than in males. But
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Karly Okay.
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Anastasia Yeah. At least like I mean, like, at least like, in between the strongest athletes,
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because I consider as one of the strong in our line bars, but she's not the most of the dynamics
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ones. But yes, she's because she's winning that lead. She's she's one of the best. But I don't
361
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want to say nothing wrong about anybody. I just want to say, to be the good bulldozer, you need
362
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:22,880
to do a lot of a lot of things. And it's like, like, just to be strong. It's not enough. You need
363
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:28,880
more. And I didn't go into this earlier. But I guess do you have a preference on like setting
364
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:37,440
for men's versus women's? I prefer set for females. Because I'm quite smart. So each time
365
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:43,840
I'm sitting for me, I need to use more creativity and more I don't know, sometimes I'm not sure,
366
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:52,080
is it okay or not. And I really need somebody to check who is way taller. I can set for men's,
367
00:41:52,080 --> 00:42:00,400
of course. But it's it's I don't feel so convinced, convinced, convenient. When I set for them,
368
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:06,480
then when then I was when I was sitting for females. But this I'm talking about the World
369
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:12,320
Cup level, not for I don't know, Polish Cup for Polish Cup does matter for me. But if you're
370
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:18,080
talking about the strongest males in the world, I don't feel convinced to set the physical boulder
371
00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:23,920
because I'm not able to do any of the move of the physical men problem. So I can set it. But still,
372
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:29,680
I asked I am not sure if it's possible or not. Is the good level? Is it too hard, too easy? So
373
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:38,560
afterwards, we need to check it as a team. In general, with your experience at the Olympics,
374
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:44,480
did you stay in the Olympic Village? No, at all. No, we were living close to the venue.
375
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:50,720
And the Olympic Village was around 40 minutes far away from that. Oh, that's pretty far, actually.
376
00:42:51,440 --> 00:43:00,000
I don't know if we had access we I didn't check it. I don't know. But we had an access to different
377
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:07,600
sports. So we were watching, for example, gymnastics final. That was awesome. We had an access to
378
00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:14,560
opening and closing ceremony. Yeah, and the different sports when we had a rest days, we could
379
00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:20,880
just take our passes and go to Paris and watch different sports. And so between Tokyo and Paris,
380
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:26,880
I think there was only one route setter who has done both of them. Do you have any interest in
381
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:35,520
doing? Oh, really? Yeah, sorry. That was two. Two, three. Sorry, three. So that was Jan Zbranek and
382
00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:43,680
Adam Kustelnik from the lead team. And I think Akita was also setting in Tokyo in the lead team,
383
00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:51,200
but as a national setter. And for the boulder team, that was Garrett Breger, who was setting in the
384
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:58,640
Olympic team in Tokyo. Okay, well, I guess scratch that question. But do you have any interest in
385
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:06,960
doing more Olympic setting in the future? If you ask me now, I would say yes, I would like to go
386
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:12,880
to Los Angeles, but I don't know what will happen in the next four years. It's a really long time.
387
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:20,080
So yeah, let's see. I'm assuming you would hope that they would separate out boulder and lead.
388
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:30,400
Not really. I mean, maybe the best scenario would be to have the combine plus lead plus...
389
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:37,680
Yeah, that would be fun. I mean, I like the combine format. I like the emotions. I like the dynamic
390
00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:45,840
in between two. Yeah, I'm not a fan of the game lines, but it's something about we can talk,
391
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:52,000
we can change, we can make adjustments. So like the guidelines, it's the thing. Just competition,
392
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:58,960
like these two disciplines together are really cool to watch. And I really like it. And the new
393
00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:06,880
generations of climbers, they used to combine. So the kids who were, I don't know, 12 when we
394
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:13,840
were in Tokyo, now they are 15. So in Los Angeles, they will be 19. So probably maybe we will
395
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:20,960
have Olympic medalists who are still in youth now. We don't know. So those who have a big
396
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:27,600
chance to compete in Los Angeles, they will be already combined athletes who really grow up like
397
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:35,120
this, not like Adam O'Krah who was lead specialist since always. And he needs to adjust himself for
398
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:38,640
this format. A lot of different, different athletes.
399
00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:44,560
Yeah, I also think combined would be fun. I agree. I think it would be nice to have like a
400
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:48,800
boulder lead and a combined medal. I think that would be a lot of fun to see.
401
00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:57,680
Maybe, maybe. It's just for me who watch, it's interesting to see how they struggle, how they
402
00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:06,160
fight. It's nice. And then it's also like lead change, the dynamic of the routes change,
403
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:11,440
because of the boulders. And it's also great. Before we didn't have a 360 on the lead wall,
404
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:20,400
and now it's nothing strange. And it's great. The sport is growing, it's evolving. And it's
405
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:25,440
necessary in sports like that, like our sport, which is great new sport.
406
00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:28,320
But you don't want speed to be combined back in.
407
00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:33,600
Well, no, for sure, no. Otherwise, we won't have a medal in front of us. We don't want
408
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:40,560
speed to be combined back in. So, yeah, I guess that's true.
409
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:46,000
Speed is just something different. It makes no sense to combine us with the boulder lead.
410
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:47,120
I think everybody knows it.
411
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:54,080
Yeah, it's just way too different. Okay, I think that covers everything I wanted to go into with
412
00:46:54,080 --> 00:47:03,520
the Olympics. So now moving a bit more into, I guess, like your personal life. You are also
413
00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:07,440
like a mother, I think you have two kids. Do your kids also climb?
414
00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:10,400
Yes, they do. Both of them. Yes.
415
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:13,440
They enjoy it? Or are you forcing them into it?
416
00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:20,080
No, no, no, no. I mean, they can choose whatever they want in their life. I will support them if
417
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:30,880
they are decisions. So far, my daughter, she's dreamed to be the Yania. And this is like something
418
00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:40,480
that she would like to achieve. I'm pretty sure it's not possible. But she loves climbing. She
419
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:47,680
has a pleasure to train. She likes to compete. So I'm just happy that she enjoys it. And it's great.
420
00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:58,320
And my son is seven. So he's still trying to find himself in the sport. So he likes climbing,
421
00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:07,200
but he's also like soccer. And he's just doing a bit of this, a bit of that. And he's climbing
422
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:11,760
just for fun. So do they prefer competition climbing or outdoors?
423
00:48:12,640 --> 00:48:20,240
My son, he's in love in Fontainebleau slabs. He's just crazy good in this. I hate when he's
424
00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:26,880
climbing in Fontainebleau because all the time I think he will die. So he prefers that. And
425
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:34,800
my daughter prefers indoor. Makes sense. And I think I've seen you do competitions after
426
00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:43,040
becoming a mother. How long did it take you to recover just from giving birth and
427
00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:45,360
feeling like you're back to your normal climbing shape?
428
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:53,840
With my daughter, I did it definitely too fast. But in both pregnancies, I was climbing until my
429
00:48:53,840 --> 00:49:07,440
ninth month of pregnancy. But I mean, it was climbing just for myself. I was moving on the
430
00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:13,840
wall, I would call it. I was climbing, I don't know, six A's because I like to climb six A's
431
00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:29,760
on the top road. But after pregnancy, it took me one month to come back to the wall. After my
432
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:37,840
pregnancy, I was a bit afraid. I wasn't sure if I can already or not. With my son, it was exactly
433
00:49:37,840 --> 00:49:45,920
six days. So I was already outside climbing. That was quite fast. But it was spring, I really
434
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:50,480
want to go outside, I really want to climb a bit. So yeah, so we went.
435
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:57,760
You said that you went back to climbing six days after giving birth?
436
00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:01,520
Yeah. Yeah, but after my second kid, yeah, there was six days.
437
00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:08,880
I mean, still, that's kind of crazy, right? Yeah, I was feeling good. So why not? It's
438
00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:15,120
something that I do since I was a kid. It's nothing weird. My doctor told me that you better
439
00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:20,160
don't start to run, like jogging and out because you never did it before. So it's stupid. But
440
00:50:20,720 --> 00:50:25,680
the climbing is something for you. Your body knows best. So if you feel okay,
441
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:32,880
and it's not exhausting. It was not a training session. It was vertical wall on the top wall.
442
00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:38,480
I was just moving up a bit on the super easy route. So nothing crazy.
443
00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:44,720
Wow. Okay. And you didn't, I guess you didn't have like issues when you were climbing,
444
00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:47,600
when you were like nine months pregnant either?
445
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:55,040
No, it was same like same level of climbing. So like six days or something like super easy
446
00:50:55,040 --> 00:51:02,800
stuff with the cute holes. Yeah. I mean, I really like climbing. It's something that I really
447
00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:11,440
appreciate in my life. And I never consider pregnancy as a disability. And I really wanted
448
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:17,440
to continue my climbing even if I'm pregnant. And because to be pregnant is normal. And
449
00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:24,240
climbing is also normal. So like why, why you can't do it? I mean, I know there is a lot of
450
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:34,640
cases, a lot of like every person is different. Every pregnancy is different. And like, but in my,
451
00:51:34,640 --> 00:51:41,920
I'm talking about myself, I was feeling good. I was feeling healthy and everything was okay.
452
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:48,960
Well, very lucky, I guess. Yeah, it's always, I've just always been kind of like scared of it. I mean,
453
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:55,040
like as a kid, I used to watch a lot of videos where people talk about their pregnancy. So I've
454
00:51:55,040 --> 00:52:02,640
heard a lot of like horror stories as well. And I mean, some people, like some people's stories,
455
00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:08,400
it sounds like even just standing up and walking around is like the hardest thing in the world. So
456
00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:15,600
yeah, it's really personal, I guess. I have a lot of accidents in my life, like recently during
457
00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:23,280
Olympics. But yeah, I turned to the hospital in the Budapest, I turned to the hospital. So like, I know,
458
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:33,360
like, I know the shit can happen in life, but it doesn't mean it will happen when you're pregnant.
459
00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:39,280
Or I don't know, I mean, you can go, you can walk on the street and you can be hit by a bus. It's,
460
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:46,000
some things are happening in your life randomly, and you can't have control on it. But when I am
461
00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:53,200
climbing top roads, it hurts, on the subways and stuff, I have the full control. And that's it.
462
00:52:53,200 --> 00:52:58,880
Yeah, I mean, it's good to know that you don't have to give it up and you can at least still do
463
00:52:58,880 --> 00:53:04,160
at least still do top rope safely. So that's good to know for anyone who's concerned out there like
464
00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:09,840
me. I think everybody has to talk with their doctors to be sure their bodies is healthy,
465
00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:17,280
and their kid is healthy. And with the, yeah, it's really personal decision. And I don't judge
466
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:23,680
anybody. And I don't say it's normal to climb. I say it was normal for myself. And this is two
467
00:53:23,680 --> 00:53:30,640
different things. Yeah. And also you mentioned stuff that happened in like Budapest and Paris
468
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:39,840
in terms of your health. Do you want to get into that a little bit? Okay. But in Budapest,
469
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:46,240
I was trying the slab, I fell from the slab and I don't know how it happened, but I felt really far
470
00:53:46,240 --> 00:53:53,920
away from the wall, like really on the end of the mud, where was the volume and I hit the edge of
471
00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:59,760
the volume which hit my eyebrow and I cut my eyebrow and I had two stitches. Oh, wow. Okay.
472
00:54:02,240 --> 00:54:11,280
And it ended up quite a bit. And in Paris, and just one day before the setting, I ate a piece of
473
00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:16,720
meat which spacked in my throat and they need to take it out during the general anesthesia.
474
00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:22,240
Also not Janine. Black keys. Not climbing related at all.
475
00:54:25,600 --> 00:54:33,040
Not really. Did you feel like that affected your, I don't know, health setting the rest of the
476
00:54:33,040 --> 00:54:39,600
competition? Yeah, definitely. Like general anesthesia during the first day of setting,
477
00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:45,440
like I skipped the first day because I was in the hospital, but I was barely able to walk on the
478
00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:54,800
first floor in the hotel. Oh, wow. I wasn't able to go out from the metro one day from the starts
479
00:54:54,800 --> 00:55:02,160
because I was, whew, wow, I can't, like it's too much for my body. This chemistry or whatever they
480
00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:10,640
put in me, it was too much. So almost two weeks of setting in Paris, I was feeling really like weak
481
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:17,280
and really out of breath and I couldn't try a few times in a row because I just couldn't. Like my
482
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:23,680
body said no, I can't move. So it really affected me and I was like, sorry guys, I'm really sorry.
483
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:32,960
I really want to push hard, but I can't. Like my body can't. And it like, I came back to myself
484
00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:39,200
a bit in the end. Like during the comps days, I was more or less feeling better, but with myself,
485
00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:46,320
the beginning was really tough. Wow. Yeah. I'm surprised you managed to come back after that
486
00:55:46,320 --> 00:55:53,760
and set. That's crazy. Geez, I just, I have like no idea how you managed to handle all of that.
487
00:55:55,360 --> 00:56:03,200
So, I mean, even outside of the hospital stuff and all of that, how do you balance like training
488
00:56:03,200 --> 00:56:10,080
and traveling and family and motherhood and all of that? I am really an energetic person.
489
00:56:10,080 --> 00:56:20,480
I don't like to sit and do nothing. At home it's different. I have a lot of time at home
490
00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:27,360
because during the day my kids are at school. So I have the time for myself, for my trainings,
491
00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:34,880
for managing the house, to do all the house because I'm single man. So I need to do everything alone.
492
00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:43,120
And I can do this when they are at school. And afterwards we have time for ourselves.
493
00:56:43,120 --> 00:56:46,640
I didn't know that you were a single mom, so that makes it even harder.
494
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:52,480
Oh my God. I've never said it's easy. It's challenging. It's hard. It's not really nice,
495
00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:59,920
but it's life and I love my kids. So yeah, I try to do everything that's best for them.
496
00:56:59,920 --> 00:57:05,920
Yeah. So do they like travel with you as well when you're off at WorldCups?
497
00:57:07,920 --> 00:57:15,440
I don't like to take them with me to the work because I really like to be really focused on my
498
00:57:15,440 --> 00:57:24,480
job. I love my kids and I want to be focused on my kids. So I don't like to put these things,
499
00:57:24,480 --> 00:57:29,920
two things together. So it's not common I take them with me time to time.
500
00:57:31,760 --> 00:57:36,880
Yeah. So when I'm going to the work, they stay at home with their father.
501
00:57:37,840 --> 00:57:44,800
Okay. Gotcha. That makes sense. Geez. That's a lot. I'm just like so shocked that you can do
502
00:57:44,800 --> 00:57:53,440
all of that. It just seems like a lot at once. I just, I can't even imagine. So yeah, outside of
503
00:57:53,440 --> 00:58:00,720
your training and taking care of kids and everything like that, what do you do outside of climbing?
504
00:58:01,280 --> 00:58:07,760
As you said, as I said in the beginning, I'm surfing a bit, a bit, a bit if I can, if I have
505
00:58:07,760 --> 00:58:16,880
a time. I'm reading books, but I don't know. I think that's it. I mean, all days I spend
506
00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:23,520
in normal life to try to manage my life, my kids lives. And that's what I do all the time.
507
00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:29,440
And when I'm going to work, I'm focused on work. I finally have a bit time just for myself.
508
00:58:31,440 --> 00:58:38,560
Then like don't need to, I don't need to think about the kids. So it's work, but afterwards
509
00:58:38,560 --> 00:58:44,000
in the evening, it's, it's, it's just time for me. So kind of holidays in different way.
510
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:52,000
Yeah. So at home, there is not really time to do something crazy. I meet my friends.
511
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:58,480
Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, you've, you've clearly got a lot of stuff going on already.
512
00:58:59,680 --> 00:59:07,680
We go to ski in the winter, of course, or snowboard, or hiking in the weekends,
513
00:59:07,680 --> 00:59:14,640
like normal, normal life like the people have. Yeah. So you're no longer like doing snowboarding
514
00:59:14,640 --> 00:59:20,880
competitions, but I guess you still go quite frequently. No, no, no. When it's like quick,
515
00:59:20,880 --> 00:59:26,320
I think I've never stand on the, I mean, no, never, but I think I've, I've didn't stand on
516
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:33,120
the board like seven years, kind of. Oh, wow. Okay. Like I really was down. That's surprising.
517
00:59:33,120 --> 00:59:40,400
I mean, well, like, why didn't you want to snowboard at all after you quit? Cause I can't
518
00:59:40,400 --> 00:59:46,880
imagine you like just giving up climbing straight up for seven years, right? Because I like to
519
00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:55,520
snowboard on the, I'm snowboarding on the hard board. So like the pro, that was my discipline.
520
00:59:55,520 --> 01:00:03,520
And the best conditions is just on the really early morning. And I hate to wake up on the really
521
01:00:03,520 --> 01:00:11,120
early morning and I hate winter and I hate when I'm freezing. So like these three things put me
522
01:00:11,120 --> 01:00:16,160
away. If you will tell me like, okay, in three seconds, you can be on the perfect slope with the
523
01:00:16,160 --> 01:00:23,680
perfect snow, like a slope on the perfect snow on the board. And it will be so much more fun.
524
01:00:23,680 --> 01:00:31,040
Like I can snowboard and it will be sunny. I don't know, minus three degree. Like, okay,
525
01:00:31,040 --> 01:00:38,880
I'm into it, but the whole process to get there, like I'm not enough motivated to do it.
526
01:00:38,880 --> 01:00:44,800
Yeah. I can agree with that. Do you have any interest in like competing again in the future?
527
01:00:45,440 --> 01:00:48,640
Maybe not at like a, okay. Not at all.
528
01:00:48,640 --> 01:00:54,880
That was really hard decision for me to quit, especially when I was qualified. So it was,
529
01:00:54,880 --> 01:00:59,440
since few years, I was like, okay, I will quit. No, I won't stay. I will quit. I will stay. It
530
01:00:59,440 --> 01:01:03,600
was a big battle in myself. And once I made a decision, I stayed with my decision. And
531
01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:11,360
that's more or less how I act in my life. You know, you will decide something. It's like that.
532
01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:15,920
And I, I'm not the person who's changing the mind.
533
01:01:15,920 --> 01:01:21,440
Yeah. Well, I actually, I was talking about like competing and climbing, not at like a
534
01:01:21,440 --> 01:01:24,800
super high level, but just like local competitions or something like that.
535
01:01:26,080 --> 01:01:33,600
It's not bad. No, in climbing, yes, I do tend to them. I compete in Poland. If there are
536
01:01:33,600 --> 01:01:39,200
cool fun competition in my hometown and I'm not setting up, why not?
537
01:01:39,200 --> 01:01:43,840
Yes. I always have a fun to compete. Kind of inspirational to hear about how
538
01:01:43,840 --> 01:01:51,600
much you managed to do at once with balancing your family life and competing and traveling
539
01:01:51,600 --> 01:01:58,160
and all of that. So I think that was, that was very helpful for me to learn because I just,
540
01:01:59,840 --> 01:02:05,920
I don't know anyone who does it. So that's good to know. Okay. So let's move on to a few of the
541
01:02:05,920 --> 01:02:15,200
last questions we have from like discord and people in the community. This one is referencing
542
01:02:15,200 --> 01:02:20,720
a video that you're in with the IFSC where you are introducing the 360 ghost holds.
543
01:02:22,880 --> 01:02:26,080
Yes. I do. Yes.
544
01:02:26,880 --> 01:02:31,680
Two, I think that was Hachi Hachi, Hachi Hachi, 2023. Yeah. One year ago.
545
01:02:31,680 --> 01:02:39,040
Yeah. And that was a big competition. Lots of complaints about that one. So this question is
546
01:02:39,040 --> 01:02:45,360
asking, I remember you were in that video introducing the ghost holds and it got completely flooded
547
01:02:45,360 --> 01:02:53,280
with negative comments. How do you manage that dealing with negative comments? How did you
548
01:02:53,280 --> 01:03:00,080
experience it? And in general, how do you deal with the barrage of bad setting comments when
549
01:03:00,080 --> 01:03:09,680
things don't go entirely to plan? I think I've never read all of the comments under that video,
550
01:03:10,480 --> 01:03:18,320
but those who I was reading were mostly about the hold and not about myself. So I didn't really care
551
01:03:18,320 --> 01:03:26,320
too much. I didn't agree with most of them and that's it. Like if I have a chance to talk with
552
01:03:26,320 --> 01:03:32,640
somebody, I can explain something. I mean, the history behind this video is quite funny because
553
01:03:32,640 --> 01:03:37,920
it was just a question, Olga, do you like this hold? Maybe you can say something about this hold.
554
01:03:37,920 --> 01:03:42,080
And I was like, yeah, actually I really like this hold. Of course I can say good things about that
555
01:03:42,080 --> 01:03:52,320
hold because it's a good hold. And it was a really, really spontaneous conversation in between me and
556
01:03:52,320 --> 01:03:58,400
Matt. And we were repeated video because the light was bad or the voice was bad and he said, I'm
557
01:03:58,400 --> 01:04:05,520
mumbling or et cetera, et cetera. So like it was really random talk about the hold during the setting.
558
01:04:06,480 --> 01:04:12,160
And I didn't pay attention too much. Like I didn't understand why the people were so upset about this.
559
01:04:12,160 --> 01:04:19,840
Like afterwards I did, after the Janik Flora comment, I had a conversation with Janik Flora
560
01:04:19,840 --> 01:04:25,680
about this. And now I understand that I didn't really care. Like the people, sometimes I upset
561
01:04:25,680 --> 01:04:30,320
about something, but they don't have a full knowledge about the subject. So why should
562
01:04:31,440 --> 01:04:37,520
I be sad about these comments? Well, I guess like now we've seen the hold used quite a lot.
563
01:04:37,520 --> 01:04:42,400
Do you feel like people have changed their thoughts on it? Like people like it now?
564
01:04:42,400 --> 01:04:52,560
The biggest issue with the hold and the biggest problem which the people had, that was you can't
565
01:04:52,560 --> 01:04:59,280
see where you can grab the hold. That was the most comments, at least those which I read because I
566
01:04:59,280 --> 01:05:06,880
didn't read all, but that was the thing which made the people angry or whatever. And the
567
01:05:06,880 --> 01:05:14,640
the reality is it's not like that. So once you see the hold and you're clamped, you actually,
568
01:05:14,640 --> 01:05:22,320
you really know where you have to grab it. And I guess the people need the time to understand
569
01:05:22,320 --> 01:05:31,360
that what they assumed the time was incorrect. And actually what like all the fears which they had
570
01:05:31,360 --> 01:05:38,880
are not here. Like it's not like that. It's normal hold with the cool idea, with the nice
571
01:05:40,880 --> 01:05:48,320
like visuality and it works like all of the holds. Like when you're a pro athlete you already know
572
01:05:48,320 --> 01:05:55,360
where to grab it. So it's not like, it's a new thing. In the beginning it's a bit weird, but
573
01:05:55,360 --> 01:06:00,400
but you can use to it easily. And these holds now are on the gyms and the people have no problem with
574
01:06:00,400 --> 01:06:09,120
those holds. I think the people are scary in the beginning about new things time to time and
575
01:06:09,120 --> 01:06:16,720
that was the kind of hate. Like just scary. So that was mainly just on the the hold itself.
576
01:06:17,440 --> 01:06:23,920
What about when you see comments about when it is about the setting or maybe like a little bit
577
01:06:23,920 --> 01:06:29,280
about the setting or maybe like a boulder that you specifically worked on? Is there like a time where
578
01:06:29,280 --> 01:06:37,360
it was your boulder and people just really shat on it online? I don't really even know where I can
579
01:06:37,360 --> 01:06:46,800
read those comments. If I said the comp I don't watch the YouTube competition. I can't, yeah,
580
01:06:46,800 --> 01:06:55,600
because I know the competition. I'm not coming back to those videos. I think once I tried to find
581
01:06:55,600 --> 01:07:02,240
any comments and I couldn't. And I don't know if I'm looking for badly or what, but
582
01:07:03,520 --> 01:07:12,400
it's not easy for me to find these all negative comments. It's more like what I hear behind me or
583
01:07:12,400 --> 01:07:18,320
in between friends, but not like randomly, not really. Maybe that's the way to do it.
584
01:07:18,960 --> 01:07:24,640
Don't read the negative comments. Maybe somebody will comment under my post. Then of course I will
585
01:07:24,640 --> 01:07:33,920
see it, but I don't know. It never hit me. Like it was time to time to see something negative, but
586
01:07:33,920 --> 01:07:42,720
yeah. Well, that's good. Next question. Do you want the boulder two zone format to stay or go?
587
01:07:43,200 --> 01:07:56,080
Definitely go. I'm not a fan of two zones format. I recently explained it, so I will repeat myself
588
01:07:56,080 --> 01:08:06,000
quickly. I believe that simple boulder is the best boulder and two zones just extending our
589
01:08:06,000 --> 01:08:14,000
problems. And we can't have really short, really basic, really boulder boulder because of the two
590
01:08:14,000 --> 01:08:20,000
zones format. And we can't really play on the end of the boulder, which supposed to be the hardest
591
01:08:20,000 --> 01:08:27,520
part because once the athlete will reach the end part of the boulder, there is not so many time of
592
01:08:27,520 --> 01:08:38,960
the clock on the clock. So in reality, if the five and 10 points are for something, the athlete has
593
01:08:38,960 --> 01:08:44,000
one or two attempts on the top and it's most of the time not enough to play with something cool.
594
01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:49,520
If we have just one zone, we can play on the beginning and there is still at least half of
595
01:08:49,520 --> 01:09:02,560
the time for the second part. And I think it's more visuality enjoyable to watch if there is one zone
596
01:09:02,560 --> 01:09:03,520
instead of two.
597
01:09:03,520 --> 01:09:09,600
All right. So you mean like setting like maybe not a brand new move, but something that would be
598
01:09:09,600 --> 01:09:15,600
hard for them to figure out? For sure. We can play more with that times if we have just one zone,
599
01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:25,440
because we can see how the athlete is learning during the process and we can push more, we can
600
01:09:25,440 --> 01:09:36,000
play more, we can give them bigger challenge on the one zone format. And most of the time where
601
01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:43,120
we were setting the word caps, we were trying to avoid to have two crooks on the world ruler,
602
01:09:43,120 --> 01:09:49,120
because most of the time is too much and there is not enough time for the top part. And with the
603
01:09:49,120 --> 01:09:59,600
two zones, we always need to have these two crooks. So now after the OQS, we realized like the five
604
01:09:59,600 --> 01:10:06,560
points needs to be really easy and needs to be accessible for everybody. And it's like almost for
605
01:10:06,560 --> 01:10:12,960
nothing. So why we are first to use it if it's actually for nothing.
606
01:10:12,960 --> 01:10:22,240
Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Next question. How do you continue to improve your well-setting
607
01:10:22,240 --> 01:10:22,800
skills?
608
01:10:22,800 --> 01:10:30,320
Setting as much as possible and with as many different people as possible, with as many
609
01:10:30,320 --> 01:10:39,120
different countries as possible. So just to don't stay in one place. For myself, it's the best is to
610
01:10:39,120 --> 01:10:45,920
experiment to switching the environments, switching the teams, switching the
611
01:10:45,920 --> 01:10:55,120
team members to play with different parts of the globe. And then you can learn faster and more
612
01:10:55,120 --> 01:11:03,520
efficient because you're not in the routine of the time you are experimenting with the different
613
01:11:03,520 --> 01:11:10,160
people. And I think that for me, the people are the most important factor in a real world.
614
01:11:10,160 --> 01:11:22,480
I think it's us who are the team and who create something in the world.
615
01:11:23,120 --> 01:11:27,680
Do you feel like there's a country that you like their setting the most?
616
01:11:28,480 --> 01:11:36,080
For me, it's France because they have an exceptional vision of the road setting of the
617
01:11:36,080 --> 01:11:42,240
movement in general. But it's just me, in my opinion.
618
01:11:42,800 --> 01:11:46,960
What's different about it? Is it just slabs or everything in general?
619
01:11:48,000 --> 01:11:51,040
Because I hear a lot about their slabs, but I don't know about the others.
620
01:11:52,560 --> 01:12:02,640
But everything, I guess, everywhere when I was, there are great road setters and really good
621
01:12:02,640 --> 01:12:10,080
gems. But in French, almost everywhere is really good. So the level almost everywhere is high.
622
01:12:11,680 --> 01:12:20,160
And the expectations are high. So it's good because you are forced to do the good job.
623
01:12:21,040 --> 01:12:29,760
And if the job is not good, you really feel disappointment. And I think it's something
624
01:12:29,760 --> 01:12:36,480
really positive thing. I mean, at least what I like. And when you are going on the random
625
01:12:36,480 --> 01:12:44,880
Parisian gym, you will find really good pullers over there. And it's not like this in different
626
01:12:44,880 --> 01:12:49,360
countries, not in all of gyms. Okay, I'll have to go back to Paris and
627
01:12:49,360 --> 01:12:58,640
try out all the gyms. Okay. And last question that we got, I think it might have been a little
628
01:12:58,640 --> 01:13:02,960
bit answered before, but in case you have a different answer for this, what are some
629
01:13:02,960 --> 01:13:10,160
unique challenges that you face as a mother and professional setter? I've heard women athletes
630
01:13:10,160 --> 01:13:15,440
who have to feed their infants during half time of a game. Just curious about what it was like
631
01:13:15,440 --> 01:13:23,520
for you during pregnancy or postpartum. During pregnancy, it didn't work as a road setter.
632
01:13:23,520 --> 01:13:34,480
So afterwards, the biggest challenge for me was missing my kids. So I was missing so much.
633
01:13:34,480 --> 01:13:41,840
So the biggest problem for me, it was to spend too many days out of the house without them.
634
01:13:42,800 --> 01:13:49,600
But with the time, when they grow up, it's easier and easier and easier. They don't need
635
01:13:49,600 --> 01:13:59,280
me so much. So it's just turned with the time. Now, I feel they are safe when I'm not at home.
636
01:13:59,280 --> 01:14:07,360
I feel they are happy that I'm not with them. So it's not really, I have a feeling it's harder
637
01:14:07,360 --> 01:14:16,400
for me than for them. So somehow it makes me feel comfortable that I'm not at home with my kids,
638
01:14:16,400 --> 01:14:22,720
because I'm sure they are okay without me. Time to time, I take them for the commercial setting,
639
01:14:22,720 --> 01:14:28,000
because it's just eight hours and they play around, they climb, they read books,
640
01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:36,160
watch the movie or something. But they grow up on the climbing gyms. They were a few months
641
01:14:36,800 --> 01:14:44,640
when I was climbing. I don't know, my kid was three months old. I was breastfeeding,
642
01:14:44,640 --> 01:14:48,960
I was climbing, I was breastfeeding climbing. So they grew up in the climbing gyms. This is
643
01:14:48,960 --> 01:14:55,040
normal environment for them. They like it, they enjoy it. And it's not a problem for them to
644
01:14:55,040 --> 01:15:03,360
join me for my training session or spend time with me. So I think now I'm in the time in my life when
645
01:15:03,360 --> 01:15:14,800
my kids are growing up to let them do whatever they want. They just don't need me so much.
646
01:15:14,800 --> 01:15:21,280
Yeah. I mean, I guess there's a big difference between ages zero to three. And then after that,
647
01:15:21,280 --> 01:15:28,320
it gets a lot easier. Yeah. It's like the huge difference in between once you turn out two years
648
01:15:28,320 --> 01:15:33,120
old, it's like, like new kid, wow, I don't need to do this and this and this. And then it's again,
649
01:15:33,120 --> 01:15:39,280
when it turned up four and five and seven and 10, it's like the new big problems appearing,
650
01:15:40,080 --> 01:15:44,160
but different problems are gone. So it's switching all the time.
651
01:15:44,160 --> 01:15:49,520
Okay. Good to know. Very, it's always an exciting journey, I guess.
652
01:15:50,160 --> 01:15:56,880
Yeah. It's to be a mom or a dad. It's a hard job. It's definitely a hard job. I think everyone
653
01:15:56,880 --> 01:16:03,840
knows that. Who are parents? Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, I think that is all the questions I had.
654
01:16:03,840 --> 01:16:09,440
Thanks for joining me today. Anything, any like last thoughts that you have?
655
01:16:10,560 --> 01:16:16,160
No, I think I'm really happy I'm here. Thank you very much for the invitation and for the questions.
656
01:16:17,040 --> 01:16:22,480
Yeah. Do you want to let people know where they can find you if they have any other questions?
657
01:16:22,480 --> 01:16:29,760
Yes, of course. I have an Instagram profile. My name is surname, so Olga Niemiec. And if
658
01:16:29,760 --> 01:16:36,320
somebody has any questions, please write me. I will try to answer like, don't feel stressed or something.
659
01:16:38,560 --> 01:16:41,680
All right. Sounds good. Thank you again. And it was amazing to talk.
660
01:16:42,400 --> 01:16:48,320
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much for making it to the end of the podcast.
661
01:16:48,320 --> 01:16:54,400
Don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed. Otherwise, you are a super fake climber. If you're
662
01:16:54,400 --> 01:16:59,840
listening on a podcasting platform, I'd appreciate if you rate it five stars and you can continue the
663
01:16:59,840 --> 01:17:18,720
discussion on the free competition climbing discord linked in the description. Thanks again for listening.
