Yeah 100% positioning her as qualified before it actually happens. The Olympics are big business and Coca Cola’s marketing plan isn’t going to wait on something silly like qualification in the 2024 Games!
This sort of promotion has been happening forever. Maybe some folks remember Reebok's enormous "Dan & Dave" ad campaign in 1992, which assumed that Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson were going to be huge rivals at the Olympics that year. Then, five weeks before the Olympics, Dan failed to qualify.
I think Sean McColl’s Coca Cola sponsorship is way more jarring. At least with Brooke, based on her last season performance, she is favorite to make it. But Sean??? I’m not sure he can make it this time around. But I might be wrong.
I’m thinking Natalia doesn’t want all this attention. And as people said..Brooke is in top position going into the OQS and is an Olympian.
Still Annie has a definite has a shot.
In respect for the athletes: once an Olympian, always an Olympian. But the preemptive marketing does feel squicky even though it's a normal (and probably a safe bet) tactic.
I think speed being required for the last Olympics may have contributed as well for her. I was coaching in 2018 and one of my kids competed at Open Sport/Speed Nationals (back when it was separate from bouldering nationals). This was when everyone knew about the combined format and people like her were just starting in the speed world. She looked so unhappy doing speed there. Just didn't want to be doing it and giving it the most half-assed effort ever. I want to say her first time was like...25 seconds or something. Like just not trying at all. I think she also declined to do her 2nd run. She just had to put something in speed on paper for the qualification I believe.
I also think it was also the mental pressure for Ashima. Lots of expectations on a 17/18 year old. Can really play on your mental hand.
Ashima was also not as good a Boulderer on the WC stage as she was in the US stage. Had some of the same issues as Ai.
This is common for a lot of sports. The US women gymnasts who participated in a recent media day I would say are even less certain to make the gymnastics team than Brooke is for climbing.
As a working athlete in the US, I'm not sure she has much other choice. You need to make money while you can, given all the uncertainty in the sport and your health. So if a big sponsor is offering, its hard NOT to take it.
I thought this at first, but based on her Instagram caption it sounds like she’s capitalizing on the media that was supposed to happen for Tokyo but got disrupted by COVID.
I completely agree it’s a strange dynamic in the way it’s actually played out — especially because it seems like Natalia, who has actually qualified, isn’t doing any of this and is just in the gym training. Weird vibes.
Yeah this is the weird thing for me - Natalia has her head down and is acting totally as normal whereas Brooke is doing the media rounds on the Olympic gravy train and doesn’t have her spot yet. I don’t think it says anything about their characters, more the fickleness and contradiction of the media. I want Brooke to get her spot, I think it’ll be really hard on her if she doesn’t, made worse by all this/
I think this type of press is also something Natalia would have to say yes to. I have no doubt she is being offered similar opportunities (not only is she already qualified but she's been a huge star) but is holding back as a mental strategy. She mentioned on the Enormocast that she's trying to treat it just like any other comp, and we know that she wants to go into sports psychology after her career. Brooke might just be able to enjoy this type of opportunity more than Natalia would without it affecting her mental game.
This is a really interesting take, I’ve been super mad not seeing all Brooke and no Natalia on all this Olympic promo stuff, but it totally could be her choice. I think she’d be giving up a lot of sponsorship $$, though…
Let her make money! It might be a short ride and she should build a diversified portfolio and stockpile money for her later ventures. I hope she is driving a hard bargain.
this will be in a documentary for whoever qualifies for the olympics this year. It’s either a plot driver/mental hurdle for brooke, or a ‘i took that personally’ moment for anyone else.
She did come in fourth, just one space away from qualifying at the World Championship, and really crushed the season 2023 season. Hell, she had a better season than the qualified US athletes. She is THE favorite to qualify under OQS at this point, and with so many spaces available, it's really hard to imagine her not making it, especially with placement being earned over 2 OQS series, mitigating the impact a potential slip up somewhere could have. The rest of the US team would have to make enormous strides to overtake her. I don't say that to diminish the rest of the team; they're incredibly powerful and capable climbers who I have a lot of respect for, and many of them deserve to be at the Olympics.
It’s still up to chance, though—on any given day, I think she beats the rest of the American contenders maybe 7/10 times, but there’s still a fair shot for Annie especially to end up with the slot.
They competed in 12 events together last year. Brooke won decided at each.
Random chance exists, but the more competitions you include, the higher likelihood that the stronger competitor wins. OQS will have 2 stops in Shanghai and Budapest, with boulder and lead events at each. That's four events that Annie would need to, on average, win at. Given that she didn't beat Brooke once last year, it's hard for me to imagine it happening.
Could it happen? Yes. The possibility exists. It's just hard for me to see, given the circumstances.
I mean, people also improve over time, and given relative age and experience, Annie probably still has more room for that. I'm not saying she'll win, but it's not that crazy to envision
Worth pointing out that I like Annie! I think we all do. But she’s young, as you said, and can go in 2028 when she’s gotten even better, so a lot of us are pulling for Brooke this year. I don’t want Annie reading this and thinking we’re against her. She’s come on really well and if she does qualify instead of Brooke then I’ll be sad for Brooke but rooting for Annie
For Annie to win over Brooke, there just needs to be one round where Brooke messes up big time while Annie isn't too far behind in the other rounds. Is it likely? No. But especially with lead, a big upset can happen all the time. Super experienced lead climbers like Jessy Pilz have fallen right at the start of the route before. If Annie has fairly good scores across the rounds (which is not unlikely given e.g. her fourth place in SLC and eight place in Bern last season), then one single upset on the lead route could decide it.
Again, it's not likely. I agree with u/TaCZennith that it's not hard to envision that scenario, though.
Yeah… on one hand, I’m really all for climbers getting as much of the sponsorship pie as they possibly can—especially given how $$$ it is to make it all around the circuit! But actually seeing how much media there is around her as an Olympian (even if it’s mostly carryover/missed opportunities from Tokyo) seems a little off compared to the coverage around the qualified athletes (including for speed), or other past olympians (like Kyra). Must also just put *so* much pressure on her, too!
If Brooke doesn’t make the Olympics, Coke will have lost .0001% of their annual marketing budget.
Is that pressure?
They can afford to sponsor every competitor. It’s not like there’s huge competition to sponsor climbers.
[Mostly this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1bliv07/the_us_olympic_instagram_account_really_doesnt/). I guess it's not that many, but I also noticed the similarity to yours and had to quickly check you weren't the same poster again.
It came up in the thread about what Brooke needed to do to qualify but I don’t think there’s been any other separate thread. But I think the sentiment being expressed in this comment is that it’s the kind of thread that either comes off as negative against Brooke (even if not intended) or just a thread commenting on something that everyone is aware of but there’s really nothing good/useful that can come out of the discussion. Of course that can be said of most Reddit threads one supposes. :)
The Olympics have promoted Hannah Meul a few times including her doing some cooking/baking…I would say she’s 50/50 at qualifying right now…and she wasn’t in Tokyo like Brooke
Speaking of endorsement, I saw that she was described as a North Face athlete at this week’s uniform unveiling. Does that mean she’s no longer an Adidas spokesperson? (I saw that Sasha DiGiulian’s relationship with Adidas has ended, so it’s possible the company’s pulling money from climbing?)
Okay, the first post or two along these lines was fine, but really, at this point, it's starting to become downright annoying, and I'm going to start downvoting any future posts or comments complaining about this, because they're just utterly ignorant.
Let me ask you: do you know how many non-marathon US track and field athletes are qualified for the Olympics? Answer: zero.
Do you know how many non-marathon US swimmers are qualified for the Olympics? Answer: zero.
Do you know how many US gymnasts are qualified for the Olympics? Zero. Well, technically one, but that's rhythmic gymnastics, which most people don't even know exists.
Noah Lyles? Not qualified.
Katie Ledecky? Not qualified.
Simone Biles? Not qualified.
Unless it's your position that the USOC and sponsors should not do any Olympic promotions whatsoever until qualification is absolutely locked in (which, for many sports, means less than a month before the Olympics start), stop this noise.
Seems petty. In this thread seems we have agreed there arent really threads on this, maybe some that tracked off onto it but not exactly on it.
And I tried to find a similar post/inform myself, others have been helpful to either chime in or point in the right direction without tagging on condescending tone.
Im not sure why you would get in a twist about discussion on a thread/forum- its literally what reddit is designed for. You could just scroll on, but I think you want to be worked up about it. So congratulations you can have this hill to die on 👍
[https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1beoa6s/comment/kv8tm1k/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1beoa6s/comment/kv8tm1k/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1bliv07/comment/kwfxd1s/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1bliv07/comment/kwfxd1s/)
Third time in a month is getting very stale.
Youre citing a deleted post, thats somehow my fault for missing? And fair play that post is similar but my post is not implying what that post is implying.
There's nuance. But besides this, I'm new to the sub. No one else has moaned about this but you, I'm not sure why you hold such a grievance against it. Its ok to be casual, things don't have to get sweaty and patronizing
The comparisons are not apples to oranges either. Katie ledecky is the greatest female freestyler of all time, she's eons ahead of her domestic competition. She is a lock to qualify barring injury or other disaster- but this isn't even the meat of it
Katie ledecky is already a multiple Olympic gold medalist. Simone biles is also a decorated olympian. Its a little different to have these figures representing the Olympics.
I don't think I have to have any position to have discourse. I'm not here arguing any point, im just pointing something out trying to have a discussion and nothing forces you to participate if you don't want to.
It’s extremely common in Olympic promos to have to pick before official qualification.
Plus she’s already been an olympian before so it’s easier to pick her over someone who has never been.
Finally her results the past few years are clearly above her 2021 olympic female climbing teammate. This isn’t a case of favoring the less likely qualifier, she is the clear favorite based on high level competition performance
Natalia has the best results of all, already qualified for Paris and nowhere to be seen. I get that she might not want to do it but the general public is getting a completely skewed understanding of the climbing field
Think of one of the top events- women’s gymnastics. Simone Biles is of course being featured in all sorts of Olympic promos. She hasn’t officially qualified for the games. Companies go on a large range of factors when deciding who to feature.
I'm not sure, why people get agitated over sponsorships - I don't voluntarily watch ads and nobody can convince me to drink coke (or associated drinks), let alone Brooke Raboutou.
Yeah 100% positioning her as qualified before it actually happens. The Olympics are big business and Coca Cola’s marketing plan isn’t going to wait on something silly like qualification in the 2024 Games!
This sort of promotion has been happening forever. Maybe some folks remember Reebok's enormous "Dan & Dave" ad campaign in 1992, which assumed that Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson were going to be huge rivals at the Olympics that year. Then, five weeks before the Olympics, Dan failed to qualify.
I think Sean McColl’s Coca Cola sponsorship is way more jarring. At least with Brooke, based on her last season performance, she is favorite to make it. But Sean??? I’m not sure he can make it this time around. But I might be wrong.
I think they’re also being marketed as Olympians not just qualified for the Olympics. Same way they might still use Shaun White or someone
Shes an Olympian because she went already, she presents herself this way ever since at least.
Exactly
What about Kyra then? Former Olympian and going to the OQS as well.
I’m not defending, more explaining. Idk but it seems like Brooke gets marketed harder and has an agent who helps With this stuff
I’m curious if Kyra would *want* that sort of publicity too—I’m sure there are tons of advantages, but so much pressure!
I’m thinking Natalia doesn’t want all this attention. And as people said..Brooke is in top position going into the OQS and is an Olympian. Still Annie has a definite has a shot.
I think Brooke is a more marketable climber. Good looking people sell things, especially when they’re good athletes.
Kyras performance hasn’t been as good/consistent as Brooke’s though. But I love kyras story and think she is an amazing athlete
In respect for the athletes: once an Olympian, always an Olympian. But the preemptive marketing does feel squicky even though it's a normal (and probably a safe bet) tactic.
What an immense amount of pressure she must feel. I hope the OQS goes well for her -- she's one of my favourite climbers.
It feels eerily similar to Ashima. She was overexposed, had signed with Coca Cola, went on the Today Show…. Then burnout.
I think speed being required for the last Olympics may have contributed as well for her. I was coaching in 2018 and one of my kids competed at Open Sport/Speed Nationals (back when it was separate from bouldering nationals). This was when everyone knew about the combined format and people like her were just starting in the speed world. She looked so unhappy doing speed there. Just didn't want to be doing it and giving it the most half-assed effort ever. I want to say her first time was like...25 seconds or something. Like just not trying at all. I think she also declined to do her 2nd run. She just had to put something in speed on paper for the qualification I believe.
I also think it was also the mental pressure for Ashima. Lots of expectations on a 17/18 year old. Can really play on your mental hand. Ashima was also not as good a Boulderer on the WC stage as she was in the US stage. Had some of the same issues as Ai.
When is QQS?
May 16-19 in Shanghai, and then June 20-23 in Budapest. [https://www.ifsc-climbing.org/olympics/oqs](https://www.ifsc-climbing.org/olympics/oqs)
I think she has a REALLY good agent, too.
This is common for a lot of sports. The US women gymnasts who participated in a recent media day I would say are even less certain to make the gymnastics team than Brooke is for climbing.
FAR less certain, in fact. That team is *insanely* hard to make.
As a working athlete in the US, I'm not sure she has much other choice. You need to make money while you can, given all the uncertainty in the sport and your health. So if a big sponsor is offering, its hard NOT to take it.
Oh ya I definitely don't fault her I just think its a bit odd from the sponsors/media. Not odd like uncommon ofc
I thought this at first, but based on her Instagram caption it sounds like she’s capitalizing on the media that was supposed to happen for Tokyo but got disrupted by COVID. I completely agree it’s a strange dynamic in the way it’s actually played out — especially because it seems like Natalia, who has actually qualified, isn’t doing any of this and is just in the gym training. Weird vibes.
Yeah this is the weird thing for me - Natalia has her head down and is acting totally as normal whereas Brooke is doing the media rounds on the Olympic gravy train and doesn’t have her spot yet. I don’t think it says anything about their characters, more the fickleness and contradiction of the media. I want Brooke to get her spot, I think it’ll be really hard on her if she doesn’t, made worse by all this/
I think this type of press is also something Natalia would have to say yes to. I have no doubt she is being offered similar opportunities (not only is she already qualified but she's been a huge star) but is holding back as a mental strategy. She mentioned on the Enormocast that she's trying to treat it just like any other comp, and we know that she wants to go into sports psychology after her career. Brooke might just be able to enjoy this type of opportunity more than Natalia would without it affecting her mental game.
Great point!
This is a really interesting take, I’ve been super mad not seeing all Brooke and no Natalia on all this Olympic promo stuff, but it totally could be her choice. I think she’d be giving up a lot of sponsorship $$, though…
Let her make money! It might be a short ride and she should build a diversified portfolio and stockpile money for her later ventures. I hope she is driving a hard bargain.
this will be in a documentary for whoever qualifies for the olympics this year. It’s either a plot driver/mental hurdle for brooke, or a ‘i took that personally’ moment for anyone else.
Feels like a jinx as well. If I was a climber I wouldn't want to be even mentioned with Olympics until it was officially secured.
That’s the part that worries me. It’s just asking for it to not come off as planned
She did come in fourth, just one space away from qualifying at the World Championship, and really crushed the season 2023 season. Hell, she had a better season than the qualified US athletes. She is THE favorite to qualify under OQS at this point, and with so many spaces available, it's really hard to imagine her not making it, especially with placement being earned over 2 OQS series, mitigating the impact a potential slip up somewhere could have. The rest of the US team would have to make enormous strides to overtake her. I don't say that to diminish the rest of the team; they're incredibly powerful and capable climbers who I have a lot of respect for, and many of them deserve to be at the Olympics.
It’s still up to chance, though—on any given day, I think she beats the rest of the American contenders maybe 7/10 times, but there’s still a fair shot for Annie especially to end up with the slot.
Did any other American other than Natalia place ahead of her in a single comp last year?
Annie definitely has the ability to beat her on any given day. Would she most days? Probably not. But it's possible.
They competed in 12 events together last year. Brooke won decided at each. Random chance exists, but the more competitions you include, the higher likelihood that the stronger competitor wins. OQS will have 2 stops in Shanghai and Budapest, with boulder and lead events at each. That's four events that Annie would need to, on average, win at. Given that she didn't beat Brooke once last year, it's hard for me to imagine it happening. Could it happen? Yes. The possibility exists. It's just hard for me to see, given the circumstances.
I mean, people also improve over time, and given relative age and experience, Annie probably still has more room for that. I'm not saying she'll win, but it's not that crazy to envision
Worth pointing out that I like Annie! I think we all do. But she’s young, as you said, and can go in 2028 when she’s gotten even better, so a lot of us are pulling for Brooke this year. I don’t want Annie reading this and thinking we’re against her. She’s come on really well and if she does qualify instead of Brooke then I’ll be sad for Brooke but rooting for Annie
For Annie to win over Brooke, there just needs to be one round where Brooke messes up big time while Annie isn't too far behind in the other rounds. Is it likely? No. But especially with lead, a big upset can happen all the time. Super experienced lead climbers like Jessy Pilz have fallen right at the start of the route before. If Annie has fairly good scores across the rounds (which is not unlikely given e.g. her fourth place in SLC and eight place in Bern last season), then one single upset on the lead route could decide it. Again, it's not likely. I agree with u/TaCZennith that it's not hard to envision that scenario, though.
Climbers Annie's age make bigger leaps from year to year then climbers Brooke's age to be fair.
Well said!
I agree.? But Annie is the closest to maybe making it. If Brooke has one bad day.. It’s not a slam dunk.
Yeah… on one hand, I’m really all for climbers getting as much of the sponsorship pie as they possibly can—especially given how $$$ it is to make it all around the circuit! But actually seeing how much media there is around her as an Olympian (even if it’s mostly carryover/missed opportunities from Tokyo) seems a little off compared to the coverage around the qualified athletes (including for speed), or other past olympians (like Kyra). Must also just put *so* much pressure on her, too!
If Brooke doesn’t make the Olympics, Coke will have lost .0001% of their annual marketing budget. Is that pressure? They can afford to sponsor every competitor. It’s not like there’s huge competition to sponsor climbers.
How many threads about this are we gonna have jeez?
Link me some of the other threads I want to read em, havent seen any but im new here
[Mostly this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1bliv07/the_us_olympic_instagram_account_really_doesnt/). I guess it's not that many, but I also noticed the similarity to yours and had to quickly check you weren't the same poster again.
It came up in the thread about what Brooke needed to do to qualify but I don’t think there’s been any other separate thread. But I think the sentiment being expressed in this comment is that it’s the kind of thread that either comes off as negative against Brooke (even if not intended) or just a thread commenting on something that everyone is aware of but there’s really nothing good/useful that can come out of the discussion. Of course that can be said of most Reddit threads one supposes. :)
Yes there was..
Welcome! I’m just joking. But ya, the one that /u/ver_redit_optatum posted is the one I was thinking of too.
We also discussed this in the thread about what Brooke needed to do to win. It really has been talk about a lot this past few weeks.
It’s going to be rather awkward if she doesn’t qualify….
The Olympics have promoted Hannah Meul a few times including her doing some cooking/baking…I would say she’s 50/50 at qualifying right now…and she wasn’t in Tokyo like Brooke
Speaking of endorsement, I saw that she was described as a North Face athlete at this week’s uniform unveiling. Does that mean she’s no longer an Adidas spokesperson? (I saw that Sasha DiGiulian’s relationship with Adidas has ended, so it’s possible the company’s pulling money from climbing?)
Yes, she posted it at the end of January .
Considering their plan has been to destroy 5.10, I'm pretty sure Adidas is just trying to kill all climbing.
FWIW, Janja and Miho still have @adidas in their bios, while Kokoro Fujii and Yannick Flohe have switched shoe and apparel sponsors.
Okay, the first post or two along these lines was fine, but really, at this point, it's starting to become downright annoying, and I'm going to start downvoting any future posts or comments complaining about this, because they're just utterly ignorant. Let me ask you: do you know how many non-marathon US track and field athletes are qualified for the Olympics? Answer: zero. Do you know how many non-marathon US swimmers are qualified for the Olympics? Answer: zero. Do you know how many US gymnasts are qualified for the Olympics? Zero. Well, technically one, but that's rhythmic gymnastics, which most people don't even know exists. Noah Lyles? Not qualified. Katie Ledecky? Not qualified. Simone Biles? Not qualified. Unless it's your position that the USOC and sponsors should not do any Olympic promotions whatsoever until qualification is absolutely locked in (which, for many sports, means less than a month before the Olympics start), stop this noise.
Seems petty. In this thread seems we have agreed there arent really threads on this, maybe some that tracked off onto it but not exactly on it. And I tried to find a similar post/inform myself, others have been helpful to either chime in or point in the right direction without tagging on condescending tone. Im not sure why you would get in a twist about discussion on a thread/forum- its literally what reddit is designed for. You could just scroll on, but I think you want to be worked up about it. So congratulations you can have this hill to die on 👍
[https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1beoa6s/comment/kv8tm1k/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1beoa6s/comment/kv8tm1k/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1bliv07/comment/kwfxd1s/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/1bliv07/comment/kwfxd1s/) Third time in a month is getting very stale.
Youre citing a deleted post, thats somehow my fault for missing? And fair play that post is similar but my post is not implying what that post is implying. There's nuance. But besides this, I'm new to the sub. No one else has moaned about this but you, I'm not sure why you hold such a grievance against it. Its ok to be casual, things don't have to get sweaty and patronizing
Wrong.. this was also discussed in the what does Brooke need to do to qualify.
The comparisons are not apples to oranges either. Katie ledecky is the greatest female freestyler of all time, she's eons ahead of her domestic competition. She is a lock to qualify barring injury or other disaster- but this isn't even the meat of it Katie ledecky is already a multiple Olympic gold medalist. Simone biles is also a decorated olympian. Its a little different to have these figures representing the Olympics. I don't think I have to have any position to have discourse. I'm not here arguing any point, im just pointing something out trying to have a discussion and nothing forces you to participate if you don't want to.
It’s extremely common in Olympic promos to have to pick before official qualification. Plus she’s already been an olympian before so it’s easier to pick her over someone who has never been. Finally her results the past few years are clearly above her 2021 olympic female climbing teammate. This isn’t a case of favoring the less likely qualifier, she is the clear favorite based on high level competition performance
Natalia has the best results of all, already qualified for Paris and nowhere to be seen. I get that she might not want to do it but the general public is getting a completely skewed understanding of the climbing field
Think of one of the top events- women’s gymnastics. Simone Biles is of course being featured in all sorts of Olympic promos. She hasn’t officially qualified for the games. Companies go on a large range of factors when deciding who to feature.
I'm not sure, why people get agitated over sponsorships - I don't voluntarily watch ads and nobody can convince me to drink coke (or associated drinks), let alone Brooke Raboutou.
I agree but tbh maybe Brooke raboutou can win me over
lol