IFSC President Marco Scolaris and IFSC Sport Officer Silvia Verdolini participated at the forum, and altogether more than 30 International Federation representatives attended the event to discuss the recommendations, share best practices to adapt to their own organisations, and seek new solutions to improve gender equality in sports leadership.

“We acknowledge and actively work against gender disparities in the IFSC, where 40 percent of athlete licenses are distributed to female athletes and male and female athletes are awarded equally since the first international competition,” says President Scolaris. “Although there is still a long way to go, I have to say that Sport Climbing has started already decades ago with the right foot: both genders have always been felt (and therefore considered) equal. Moreover, one of the beautiful things about Sport Climbing competitions is that they give everyone the best chance to express themselves, to show parallel levels of excellence across disciplines. We are proud of the record-setting success of Janja Garnbret at IFSC events, as well as the ground-breaking outdoor ascents of former world champion Angela Eiter and youth world champion Margo Hayes and the organising of events like the Women’s Climbing Symposium by season champion Shauna Coxsey. We hope our organisation consistently serves alongside them and all leaders of the Sport Climbing community to make sure our climbs are always towards gender equality.”

For more information on the forum, visit the complete news at Olympic.org.