1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000
We were talking with the lead team, but it was more like, ha, your route is hard?

2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:10,240
Yes, it's hard. For example, that was the conversation. Nothing more. All of the females

3
00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:15,280
can reach. Is it for sure not more for? And we were checking like really a lot of times,

4
00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:24,400
and we put a lot of, a lot of tension about it. I never consider pregnancy as a disability,

5
00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,400
and I really wanted to continue my climbing even if I'm pregnant.

6
00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:34,880
During the first day of setting, like I skipped the first day because I was in the hospital, but

7
00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,520
I was barely able to walk on the first floor in the hotel.

8
00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:46,240
Welcome to another episode of the That's Not Real Climbing podcast. I'm your host Jinni,

9
00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:53,440
and I'm excited to introduce my guest for today, Olga Niemiec. Olga is an official IFSC route setter,

10
00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:58,960
and she recently came back from Paris where she helped set the Olympic boulder rounds. In this

11
00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:04,560
episode, we'll learn about what it takes to become an IFSC setter, what it was like setting

12
00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:10,880
at the Olympics and trying to make the rounds fair, and how she balances setting, training,

13
00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:24,320
and travel all while being a single mother. It's insane. I hope you enjoy this episode with Olga.

14
00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,520
How was your vacation after the Olympics, after Paris?

15
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:38,240
I took one week of holidays in Portugal, and that was good. That was good, quite calm. I was just

16
00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:43,040
surfing, no climbing at all. So that was a pleasure. How long have you been surfing?

17
00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:51,280
I'm totally beginner. I guess it's kind of my second love, and I really want to

18
00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:58,720
go for it as often as possible. Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit hard for you to get

19
00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:05,360
opportunities to surf, I assume. You live in, I guess, where do you live right now? Poland.

20
00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:10,880
Yeah, it doesn't really seem like a surfing location. Not really. I have one hour to the

21
00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:20,880
mountains and six to the sea. So hard to get practice in. I just tried surfing for the second

22
00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:30,240
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.

23
00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:36,720
Yeah, maybe one day we can try it sometime. That would be awesome. Yeah, so let's get right into it.

24
00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:44,000
How long have you been climbing, and how did you get into climbing? I've been climbing since I was a kid.

25
00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:51,520
Both of my parents are climbers. So I started, I was barely walking when I started climbing.

26
00:02:51,520 --> 00:03:01,440
But yeah, because my parents were taking me to the crags, and they were climbing, and I was just hanging around.

27
00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:13,200
But I started climbing, like, well, I wanted to start climbing when I was around seven, I guess.

28
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:20,480
And until that time, I'm climbing with a few breaks in between. And then you also used to

29
00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:30,160
compete a bit yourself, right? Correct. When I was a kid, when I was seven, I've already started to

30
00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:37,440
train with a small group of the kids in Poland. And we already started also to compete in the

31
00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:44,400
competition in Poland, as kids. Yeah, so since always.

32
00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:51,680
Okay, so you're kind of like a team kid too. Yes, it's kind of funny. I started actually with the group

33
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:58,880
where was Marcin Szoek, another EFSC road setter right now. And we are in the same group with the kids,

34
00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:03,680
because we are from the same city. Okay, so how long did you compete for?

35
00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:11,600
Well, I stopped after one and a half, two years, more or less, and he was continuing climbing.

36
00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:17,600
Yeah, because I was interested in different stuff at that time. And then I came back again after a

37
00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:27,520
one year break, and they were way better than me. So I joined a different group, and then I was

38
00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,920
climbing one or two years, and I stopped again for one or two years. And I was like, go.

39
00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:43,120
Today's in Camelback, and it was like, I don't know. I've never climbed like full three times in years.

40
00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:48,160
So you didn't have competition climbing aspirations as an athlete?

41
00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:55,520
I did. But when I was around 14, 15, 16, and that time I was competing a lot in the Polish Cups,

42
00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:02,960
Polish Junior Cups. I was on the podium. Then I turned to be senior, and I was still competing

43
00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:10,960
as a senior. And I was also competing in the finals. Yeah, basically all the time in the finals of the

44
00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:14,560
national competition. Did you ever do international competitions?

45
00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:24,400
No, just once. I was not ready. It was just three spots, and I just took this spot. And then so I

46
00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:32,000
competed in the World Cup one time, but I was almost last, I guess. But I fell from hard

47
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:36,960
holders on the top, so not so far. Yeah, but the result was good.

48
00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:44,080
Nothing wrong with that. How did you make the decision to retire from competing and I guess

49
00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:49,520
eventually get into route setting? So when I was that time, when I was 15,

50
00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:58,160
I was also snowboarding, and I was in the national team of snowboard. And so I was competing in two

51
00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:06,000
sports in the same time in winter, more on the board, summer more climbing. And I was more focused

52
00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:15,280
on snowboard, even joined to the Olympic team. I qualified for Olympic Games in snowboard, and I

53
00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:24,480
and I quick, like half six months before in peaks, I don't know, maybe eight months before.

54
00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:34,320
Because we didn't agree with my coach, it was a big problem. And I said, like, I don't want to

55
00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:45,200
do it anymore. I just want to climb. And I quit from snowboard. And so, yes, beginning of the

56
00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:49,680
then I started climbing. And I was focused just on climbing. Whoa, wait. Okay, so I had no idea

57
00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:54,800
about this whole snowboarding thing. So you were going to be an Olympic snowboarder? Yeah.

58
00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:01,200
Wow. So you were doing like, you were competing in two different things at once, I guess. That's

59
00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:05,920
kind of a lot to handle. Yeah, but that time snowboard was like the first sport for me.

60
00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:11,440
I was really focused on that. And climbing was like just my passion. And I just love to do it.

61
00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:17,280
And it was just on the side, let's say. So when I was competing, I was going to the finals,

62
00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:22,480
but never with the huge success because it was not what I was focused about. Yeah. And I stopped

63
00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:28,800
snowboarding when I was 21. So it was already a bit too late for real career as a fiber athlete.

64
00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:33,120
Well, I guess you at least eventually made it to the Olympics in some way. So that's really cool.

65
00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:39,440
So at what age did you get into route setting?

66
00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:49,360
In one point, we had a huge international competition in Poland. And I was already

67
00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:54,080
competing in this competition in previous years. So I was expecting I would be in the finals.

68
00:07:54,080 --> 00:08:03,040
But I knew during the final day of the competition, I will be already in Spain for outdoor climbing,

69
00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:07,680
because I bought the tickets to Spain before they announced the competition date.

70
00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:15,200
So I really wanted to be a part of this competition. And I felt like, OK, if I can compete,

71
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:21,440
maybe I can set the competition. But why not? And I asked my friend, who was the organizer,

72
00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:27,440
maybe it's possible to join. And he said, OK, I will ask the chief. I think yes. But let's see.

73
00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:32,960
And the chief agreed. My friend agreed. And that's how I ended up in the team.

74
00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:39,680
OK. Yeah, it's kind of crazy that they just let you set just from asking,

75
00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:44,480
not knowing how your setting was before then.

76
00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,520
I think they didn't know I never set.

77
00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:55,120
Yeah. I mean, you'd think they would be able to tell once you started setting the first time.

78
00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,320
I don't know. Nobody said nothing. They were to focus on their brothers.

79
00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:08,800
And that was cool. I mean, they knew that I'm a good climber. My climbing level is high enough

80
00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:15,120
to set this kind of competition. So I think that time nobody really thought about it,

81
00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:19,600
about experience and setting. The team was experienced. I was, of course, working for free.

82
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:24,640
So they just said, OK, go for it.

83
00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:30,080
So was that actually like literally your first time setting ever?

84
00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:38,400
Yes. Yes. Yes. And it was a big competition with international athletes, like really good.

85
00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:44,560
That time that was Ruptov, he was winning the World Cups and he registered.

86
00:09:44,560 --> 00:09:50,160
So one of that leaves and a few different people. So for me, it was a huge event.

87
00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:52,480
But even from Poland, it was quite big.

88
00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:57,200
Do you remember what you were feeling at the time as you were setting your first time?

89
00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:04,880
Yeah, because I didn't know what should I expect then. I had no expectations before.

90
00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:09,840
And I just wanted to have a fun and climb on the final boulders. That was my goal.

91
00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:16,080
And it turned out it's something what I like to do in my life.

92
00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:24,160
Yeah. And I think I was surprised how nice is it, how fun is it, how good is it,

93
00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:31,520
how big pleasure I can have during the setting and during the competition days.

94
00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:36,160
And I just remember it was a good time for me.

95
00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:42,080
I still just can't really wrap my head around how you set finals boulders your first time,

96
00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:50,480
because I've only tried route setting once. And I had an idea in mind of a move I wanted to set,

97
00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:56,560
or maybe how I wanted something to feel, but it just didn't come through at all.

98
00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:00,880
How did you make that happen the first time?

99
00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:05,680
Well, I don't know exactly what was in my head that time. I guess I've just put the

100
00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:11,920
holes on the wall. I tried to find a nice section in between them, I guess. But it was not really,

101
00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:17,520
I want this move and I tried to put them the move on the wall. I don't think so. It was this way.

102
00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:24,080
It's randomly I worked like that. So maybe it was just a freestyle. I liked it.

103
00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:29,920
Okay. I guess maybe it comes naturally to you somehow.

104
00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:35,200
I don't know. I think it's easier if you're an athlete, you were an athlete,

105
00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:39,680
you know what you expect. You exactly know the level of the boulder which should be on the wall.

106
00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:46,400
So it's a bit more natural than to come from nowhere and try to set the boulder

107
00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:49,520
where you don't actually know the level of the...

108
00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:57,520
Yeah, okay. Yeah, that makes sense. So then when did you become an IFSC route setter?

109
00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:07,520
It happened in 2021. I got an official appointment as a junior route setter.

110
00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:14,240
Okay. So how did you get that? I think me and a lot of other listeners don't really know

111
00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:20,800
the process for becoming an official IFSC route setter. I think also a lot of people don't

112
00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:26,800
know that there is a difference between official IFSC route setters and I guess just setters who

113
00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:33,360
set for a few World Cups. So can you sort of explain the difference between official setters

114
00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:38,240
and how you, I guess, got that junior setting license?

115
00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:46,560
So we have a pool of around 40 international IFSC route setters.

116
00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:57,280
And we are able to set the World Cups, World Championships, youth competition, etc., etc.

117
00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:03,680
And each year we are nominated to set around two competitions per person.

118
00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:12,800
And these nominations are fully made by IFSC. They are official. You can find them on the IFSC

119
00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:19,280
website. If you are not an IFSC route setter, you can't be nominated by the International Federation.

120
00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:28,800
You can, like now, now the few years ago process was not super clear. Now it's really clear. And

121
00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:35,760
it said that if you, like exactly this year, a lot of things changed. So I'm not sure if I should

122
00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:41,120
tell you how it is exactly now or how it was when I was started. I was starting out in the

123
00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:52,560
first year. So now the system has been changed and we have the levels. So there is level one,

124
00:13:52,560 --> 00:14:00,720
two, three and four of IFSC route setters. Level, starting from level four, that means you can be

125
00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:08,800
the chief or the World Cups or the high level competition, like Olympic Games or World Championships.

126
00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:14,720
And level three, you mean you can be the part of the team of the highest level competition,

127
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:21,440
but also you can be chief of the lowest round competition, like European Cups or Asian Cups.

128
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:32,000
Level two means you can be chief of the continental Cups, but like you are not nominated,

129
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:36,640
you don't, you won't have nominations for the World Cups. So it's like level lower.

130
00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:44,320
Level one means you can't be the chief of the continental Cups, but you can be the part of the team.

131
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:50,720
So yeah, for like level two, maybe not like chiefing World Cups, but can you still set at World Cups?

132
00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:57,120
Okay, so from down, so level one, you can be the team of the continental Cups. Level two,

133
00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:02,960
you can be the chief of the continental Cups. Level three, you can be the chief of the

134
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:11,360
continental Cups, but also you can be the team member of the World Cups. Level four,

135
00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:16,160
you can be the chief of the World Cups. Okay, cool. That makes sense. And so this is like brand new,

136
00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:27,200
this year? Yes, it happened this year in February, I think. So they made this hierarchy and it's full,

137
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:33,760
um, everything gets on the website of the FSC page. So you can find it, like everybody can find it.

138
00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:39,360
And then, then at least with the names and the levels, which, which they get. Um, for that,

139
00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:48,320
we didn't have levels. It was just the IFSC title. And that was level three and level four,

140
00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:57,680
they was together, but separated by like chief EFSC, the IFSC chiefs and just IFSC road settles.

141
00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:05,120
And level one, level two, it was, um, I think it was, um, managing by the European council,

142
00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:10,720
IG council, et cetera, et cetera. So those road settles who were nominated for the continental

143
00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:19,360
cups, they were not in the official pool, but somehow the names were written somewhere. But

144
00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:25,840
I don't really how it was because I've never been in this European pool. So I can't really tell you

145
00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:32,240
how it was before. All right. And so then how did you, you said you, um, got into it because you

146
00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:38,560
had a junior setting license? Yes. So they created for a couple of years, like two or three maximum.

147
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:44,560
It was like junior, uh, my four years, sorry, but I don't really know, but it was a kind of the

148
00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:52,240
junior title, junior EFSC. And that will, that was basically level three, or it was just like,

149
00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:59,040
we were paid like normal EFSC, uh, EFSC status. We were nominated like normal EFSC status,

150
00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:06,720
but we, it was kind of like, look, they are new. So it was like, I don't know, like the beginning,

151
00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:13,440
beginning for us. So how did you get nominated? Just like someone else knew you who already had

152
00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:20,160
an official license? I was, yes, I was setting the world caps before I got my nomination.

153
00:17:21,120 --> 00:17:28,720
And so, um, yeah, I was, I was in a, in a, in the environment, if I can say so. Um,

154
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:35,200
and I got the recommendations from the other EFSC status. So then I guess how did you

155
00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:41,920
set your first world cup? I'm just, I, I'm like pressing on this a lot, but I think it's because

156
00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:48,160
a lot of people just even want to know how to like break into that, that kind of, uh, that kind of

157
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:58,960
job. I asked and they say yes. Okay. I'm sorry. Okay. I mean, now it's, it's really hard to do

158
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:05,360
this that way. And I have to sit right to make it really clear and try to make it a clear pathway

159
00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:11,440
and create the path for the new roots that us would like to grow and to become an EFSC in the

160
00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:18,960
future. And it makes sense to believe, um, as few years ago, it was more, or I don't know, more

161
00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:24,880
freedom choosing who will be in the team. I mean, there were some people who were nominated

162
00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:33,200
officially, but the rest of the team were, were, was, was chosen by organizer, organization,

163
00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:39,600
rather chief could say, maybe we can take this or this person. So everything was more,

164
00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:47,680
yeah. In between my friends, maybe not a good word, but, uh, it wasn't so clear and so obvious

165
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:55,440
and so far, let's say. And that's why now it's changed to be really far for everybody.

166
00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:01,840
To give everybody the same chances to be a part of the world. I had this, this, this, um,

167
00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:10,400
lucky that, uh, Martin was the chief and I asked Martin, maybe you want to take me. And he said,

168
00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:17,840
okay, I will ask if, if, if organization, if I have to see the brief so you can join and, uh,

169
00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:23,520
yeah, and I joined. All right. So then for people wondering, I guess, sometimes the answer is just

170
00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:30,240
ask, but now there's, um, it's good to hear that they have more of a process now. So it's a bit

171
00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:37,680
more clear. I think so. I mean, still there is still the pro there is a still way to ask,

172
00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:43,920
but on the lower level. So now there are world caps, but, uh, there are still like continental

173
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:50,320
caps. You can try to set, um, like, first of all, you should put like, first of all, to be if I see

174
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:56,000
I FSC route, you need to have the national license. And of course I got it when, when I was

175
00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:02,640
applying, like, this is the first step. So first you need to set national competition. Then once

176
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:07,920
you get your national license, try to set international competition and like step by step.

177
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:14,160
And I did it of course, uh, but quite fast. Yeah. Really impressive how fast you moved up the ranks,

178
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:20,880
I guess. Um, so you've set for both, um, Boulder world cups and lead world cups. Do you have a

179
00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:28,480
preference of setting for one or the other? Not really. I think I miss now I miss lead a lot

180
00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:33,600
because I didn't set an elite competition this year, but once I had a season with just one

181
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:42,400
builder competition and free lead, I was missing Boulder. So in, in yeah, I, I, I prefer to mix

182
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:48,000
them and to have, let's say to, to lead to a border competition per season. That would be perfect.

183
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:57,760
What do you like about each one? Um, he, I like the free spell, which we have as a team,

184
00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:04,080
the vibes are different in the team. We are more, I don't know, more, it's more funny. It's,

185
00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:11,280
it's more jokes. We, we, we are all together on the mat. So we are a group. Uh, we can,

186
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:17,840
yeah, we have a fun time together, like really cooperate in between. We can jump from one

187
00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:23,360
burlar to the other, take a break, steering a car, whatever you want. So, so the vibes are

188
00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:28,640
fully different in the lead. It's just me and somebody on one lift. And it's really intense

189
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:35,120
one hour together with one person or three hours sometimes. And we're really focused on the lead,

190
00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:41,440
on the route. And we are like joking in between, of course, but it's different vibe. And the

191
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:48,720
whole process is longer. Uh, like you climb just more, most of the time, just one per day.

192
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:55,760
Uh, in border, you climb and jumped million times per day. So like the dynamic in the team is, is

193
00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:04,000
totally different. And I like both. And so with the, um, Boulder setting, um, I feel like recently

194
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:09,760
I've been hearing more about like these Boulder setting guidelines. I don't know if that was just

195
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:18,240
for the Olympics or, um, if it's going to be for world cups as well. Um, they mentioned, you know,

196
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:26,000
it's like a power Boulder coordination, Boulder, balancey, um, electric, I forget all four of the

197
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:31,920
names. You can correct, correct, correct. Um, so was that just for the Olympics or is that going

198
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:38,640
forward? The new guidelines? Well, we've now with your question, I'm confused to be honest. Um,

199
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:46,800
so I know a lot of people will listen to us and I don't want to make the, I don't want to

200
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:53,040
give you the wrong answers. Uh, in my opinion, it was just for the combined competition.

201
00:22:54,160 --> 00:23:00,560
So for those, which me, we also had the lead and we need to compare two disciplines together.

202
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:09,520
But I mean, I'm, but I'm not working in the IFC board. I don't know what will happen in next

203
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:17,440
in next season. I have no ideas about any decisions. So it's just from my experience, I can say

204
00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:23,360
last year we didn't have a guy in last for the world cups, but this year we had guidelines for

205
00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:28,560
the combined competition. And as far as I know, they need to use them during the world caps,

206
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:34,400
those guidelines. Okay. Okay. That's good to know. I don't know how it will be in next season.

207
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:41,840
06. Did you feel like with the guidelines, it's made setting easier or does it kind of hurt your

208
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:50,320
creativity? 07. Definitely annoying. Um, in the beginning, I was quite psyched and I was happy.

209
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:58,560
We have this clear four types of puller, which make the competition maybe more fair, but afterwards,

210
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:07,120
it's, it's, it's killing the creativity of the status. And, um, after this free competition in

211
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:14,000
a road, when I was forced to use, uh, uh, the same style of the bullers all over, all over, all over

212
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:22,640
again, it's really tiring. And I prefer to mix the styles more to try to balance the round,

213
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:29,440
try to balance the styles, but more reasonable. Don't put one coordination. It's, it's my,

214
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:35,120
in my opinion, it's better to mix it and to put, let's say coordination will start and then finish

215
00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:43,520
the buller a pace square or a positive one. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, so I definitely, I hope we

216
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:50,800
won't have any guidelines next year, at least not so strict. So not really focus one style per buller,

217
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:56,720
but I don't know how it will end up. Are you worried that with this format, it's too easy

218
00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:03,120
for the athletes to learn as well? Like they know what to expect and what to kind of train for?

219
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:12,080
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.

220
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:18,560
It's, it's like, you always have four problems. It's, it's always coordination somewhere. It's

221
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:25,120
always slap somewhere. It's always physical somewhere. So, so, it's, it's just, you have

222
00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:32,320
one style in one buller. That's it. So we try to avoid the two coordination problems, for example,

223
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:39,600
one round. And we, when we don't have on guidelines, we can play tiny more. So, so we can put the

224
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:45,920
balance section on the different type of the wall than the slab. We can create the slab with the

225
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:53,600
volumes, for example, and make that the balance, the, the technical climbing, but with these

226
00:25:53,600 --> 00:26:01,600
guidelines, we are always ending up with the balance slow slab, which we try to make a bit

227
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:09,920
fast. But like for me, it started to be all over the same. There was a lot of pressure at the

228
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:16,880
Olympics for the setting and creating equal setting between the boulder and lead rounds. And there

229
00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:24,240
were also different setters for boulder versus for lead. So how do you make sure that the boulder

230
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:29,040
lead round is not too difficult one way or the other? Please excuse this brief intermission,

231
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:34,560
but I've gotten a few requests for this. So I just wanted to announce that if you're interested in

232
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:41,440
helping support the show, my Patreon page is now live. Some perks include ad free interruption

233
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:47,840
free episodes, deleted scenes, prioritized guest questions, or the ability to submit video questions

234
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:53,840
and enamel pin shipped to you after two months of membership and much more to come. The proceeds go

235
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:58,800
back into the podcast to help me break even. And they help improve the experience of the guests.

236
00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:04,000
If you'd like to support the podcast non monetarily, liking, commenting, and sharing

237
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:09,120
helps a great deal as well. Back to the show. So that's why we had a guy in lines and that was

238
00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:16,400
the different type of the game lines, not just the styles as also how many tops do you want? How many

239
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:24,000
points for first, second, third place, etc, etc, etc. How many tops you want in whole around?

240
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:30,640
How many people will go to the second zone first? So like this all statistics were in the game lines.

241
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:36,480
And thanks to that, we didn't need to really communicate in between, we just tried to fit

242
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:43,680
in the guidelines with our predictions. And that's why the guidelines was created to make our job

243
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:54,720
easier. And it worked for sure. So we knew how we knew which kind of results we we expecting.

244
00:27:55,440 --> 00:28:00,000
And we knew if we will fit in the guideline with these expectations, and the lead will

245
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:05,680
fit with their expectations, exactly in their guidelines, then we will be we will like meet in

246
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:10,560
the proper balance in between two disciplines. Do you know what the lead guidelines were?

247
00:28:11,360 --> 00:28:18,160
Oh, no, I don't remember. But like similar. So like, I don't know, first place in between.

248
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:25,520
I don't I don't know 95 100 points. And then second place in between this and this points,

249
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:31,920
first place, fourth place, etc, etc, etc. So they were like trying to reach this whole that for

250
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:38,960
for for for each place, like to reach them down the good number with the points.

251
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:45,760
So like, I think for Boulder, you mentioned that they have to you kind of say like, what percentage

252
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:52,880
you think will get 510 or 25 points? Did it work out to the percentages that you were expecting? Or

253
00:28:52,880 --> 00:29:01,760
were there any big surprises there? For sure not not not in each round. So for example, the men's

254
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:06,480
semi final was too hard. I mean, we can see it when you were watching it, and you need to see

255
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:12,400
the guidelines to know it. So yes, we didn't fit the guidelines because it was slightly too hard.

256
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:18,160
But I don't really now I didn't have I would need to have a paper and to see the results again,

257
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:26,320
and to refresh it. Because I'm not really good in statistics. I'm not really good in thinking

258
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:37,360
how many no, no, no, no, no, no, more emotional person. So I do not know, surely if we feed

259
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:42,480
perfectly. But to be honest, I don't think so, because it's really hard to do it. And this is

260
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:48,000
just a guideline. It's not something what we have to do. It's like, it would be nice if you can

261
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:56,640
reach this goal. But it's not like, it's not now I know just French word obligatory, sorry.

262
00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:02,320
So like, for example, for men's semis, if the boulder was too hard, do you then go and talk to

263
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:08,560
the lead setters and they adjust it so that lead is like, equally as hard or they make it a bit

264
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:15,760
more difficult? No, no, no, no, we had this unwritten rule that once the boulder round started,

265
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:21,120
the lead team is not touching the lead route. So whatever will happen on the boulder side,

266
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:28,400
they won't change anything on the lead. And that's enough. Otherwise, they can turn the results.

267
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:33,760
So like I said, oh, we have this and this. Okay, let's let's I don't know, make the route harder.

268
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:41,760
Like it's opening the door for cheating. Like, oh, this guy made a bouldering, let's make this

269
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:48,480
section easier and gave him more points. You know what I mean? It's opening the unsure results.

270
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:54,800
So they didn't, they never, they never changed the route after the boulder round.

271
00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:01,680
Okay, I see how it could open it to cheating. But then I guess people also might be upset that,

272
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:09,360
oh, like it favors lead or, or I guess it wouldn't favor lead specialists, but that it favors.

273
00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:17,360
Wait, how does this work? Wait, yeah, it gets confusing. Okay, so if the if the lead round is

274
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,760
easier, then it's like it goes against the lead specialists.

275
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:37,520
Yeah, not really. Because let's say when the guy, one guy who is, who is not the list specialist,

276
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:43,520
oh no, I know, I know, I know how you can do it. So you can put just turn up the lead route and

277
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:48,400
make the cracks in the lead route. And then everybody will fall in the white point or most

278
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,720
of them will fall. And doesn't matter if you're a lead specialist or not, you will fall in,

279
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:57,680
you will fall somewhere. So for the boulders, it's, it's, it's, it's not really good to,

280
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:03,760
to fall on that. I don't know, number 20. But if you're a medium lead, you also fall in this point.

281
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:12,800
Or you can make the section easier to, to, to push the lead guys higher. It makes sense.

282
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:18,160
Yeah. I think that makes sense. But I guess I, it seems I get confused by it anyway.

283
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:26,560
For sure you can play with the results. For sure. Like you can easily do it. If you know,

284
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:32,400
if you already know the places from one to 10, you can know, oh, this guy is really poor in

285
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:38,640
crimps. Let's put this crimp, uh, better, worse, whatever side you prefer, but you can really

286
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:47,840
create that potentially dangerous situation when you play with who will win or not.

287
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:53,120
I mean, they try to avoid this situation. They try to avoid somebody who will come and say,

288
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:58,480
Hey, you change it just, just half an hour before maybe you want to do this or this or this or this

289
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:06,480
athlete. So to avoid any suspicions, it's like, it's done. We didn't see the, the puller round.

290
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:11,840
We didn't know what will happen. We had this scenario, but we are not touching the roots.

291
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:16,880
And that's why we had the guidelines. So if, if you, if you were following the guidelines,

292
00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:23,200
you're supposed to be more or less sure the root or the puller round fit into the guidelines.

293
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:27,600
Well, like we were talking with the lead team, but it was more like, ha, your route is hard.

294
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:33,120
Yes, it's hard. For example, that was the conversation. Nothing more. Do you think you

295
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:37,840
will have a top? No, we don't think so. We have a top. Oh, good. Because we also have a good,

296
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:41,840
hard round for our four pullers. So it's like not really real talk.

297
00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:48,080
Did you get to like see each other's like boulders and lead route while you're setting?

298
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:54,000
We were working behind the curtain as a puller team, so we didn't really see them,

299
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:59,680
but they, they, they said they, they, they, they was, they were hearing me. They said,

300
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:06,320
yeah, I was quite loud. They were seeing us from the top of the lift, but time to time when they

301
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:12,160
didn't, didn't, didn't have a job or they had just to leave. So when some time to time when

302
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:18,640
leaf was, was occupied for different stuff. So time to time the guys from the lead team just came

303
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:27,360
behind our curtain just to hang up, see, watch something. But it was just to, to be with us for

304
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:33,200
a second. But no, we were totally working as a two separate teams. I don't know how was the

305
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:37,680
connection between chiefs because I don't know that they had a lot of meetings. I think they

306
00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:44,080
had a meeting so every day. So that was a big communication, but not on my level as just as a

307
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:50,720
team end up. Okay. Makes sense. Yeah. I mean, I feel like it turned out pretty well and I

308
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:56,880
was listening to like another podcast that you had done. I heard you say that you felt the setting

309
00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:04,080
was not perfect, which kind of surprises me because it seems like people actually mostly liked the

310
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:11,440
setting at Paris. I mean, you know, like online people will always be very loud if they're

311
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:18,400
upset about the setting or if, yeah, if they were not happy with the results or anything like that.

312
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:24,160
But I think people were mostly positive, which is very rare. So I guess like congrats on that.

313
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:30,960
First of all, there was, there was like, of course, a couple of things that people mentioned. I think

314
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:40,320
one thing was the, like the men's semis being hard. And then the, I feel like the only other thing

315
00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:46,560
that I saw on like Reddit or YouTube comments or whatever was about once again, the setting being

316
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:56,720
too high for ImLaurie. So what kind of precautions did you take as setters to avoid this? And also

317
00:35:56,720 --> 00:36:08,960
like how tall are you? Well, I'm 158 centimeters with zero span. As far as I know, I is 154. So

318
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:16,320
four centimeters in between us. As I mentioned before, I don't know how big is her span,

319
00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:25,440
but not minus as far as we know. So it's rather four centimeters less than mine or a bit less if

320
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:36,480
she has a plus. Well, we were thinking about the sizes all the time, both for men and for the

321
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:45,120
females. So there are athletes who are not in average. So each time we were wondering,

322
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:51,120
oh, maybe this guy can reach, should we move it further? Are we sure this guy can't cheat?

323
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:59,760
Because it's mostly about the guys or with the females. Okay. Are we sure all of the females

324
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:05,200
can reach? Is it for sure not more full? And we were checking like really a lot of times and we

325
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:13,440
put a lot of a lot of passion about it. And we spend hours about some movements,

326
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:22,320
talking, trying to find a good balance to don't make something rich. And we're really,

327
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:25,680
really focused about it. Are you happy with how it turned out?

328
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:34,800
Well, I'm not happy because we had an athlete who didn't start the boulder and it's not nice, never.

329
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:43,440
But instead of being sad, I'm more disappointed because I'm sure this move was not more full.

330
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:52,880
I'm just sure. So I'm disappointed it happened like that. This move was totally different in

331
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:58,800
the really beginning, totally different. And we changed it because we thought it's more full.

332
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:06,160
And it was even worse than we had actually during the Olympic games, the worst in terms of the

333
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:12,240
morphologies. And I was like, no, it's just more fun. It came like that. And we climb with Tsukasa

334
00:38:12,240 --> 00:38:17,920
and said, no, no, it's just more fun. It's not hard. It's more fun. So we changed that move

335
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:24,400
for the move which was during the Olympic games. And we decided as a team, this move is a game.

336
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:30,480
And it's just sad. And I think the same question before that, that's the, yeah,

337
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:37,280
but that I didn't start. And it's just, you know, we want to have a fur round. We're really

338
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:45,760
expecting we will give the athletes the fur field of play. We are like, this is our job to make it

339
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:53,680
fur. It's something which we want. We want to have the best athlete on the podium. We want to show

340
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:59,680
how good they are, how strong they are, how great the athletes are, and give them the opportunity

341
00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:07,200
to fight, to show the greatest. And it's always sad if the bulldozers, let's say, are too hard,

342
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:13,360
and then you are, okay, we should do this and this and this to let them play. Or if the bulldozers

343
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:21,120
are too easy, same, not good scenario. So there is always a lot of disappointment and sadness

344
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:27,680
in the setting team if they're wrong, it's not as good as we were expecting.

345
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:32,880
Karly Yeah, so I guess it was more just like the expectation that she should have been able to

346
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:34,480
do it.

347
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:39,600
Anastasia Yes, definitely. Definitely. I had more doubts.

348
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:45,920
Karly Yeah, I feel like people don't really complain about the height difference in setting

349
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:53,600
for men so much. It is a pretty big difference as well, right? Like setting for maybe like Paul's

350
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:59,680
height versus like Sasha's height. Anastasia Yes, I don't know why the people don't

351
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:04,000
complain for that. No. Karly I mean, that is a bigger difference in terms of height, right?

352
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:11,360
Anastasia Probably. Between Sasha and Paul, probably yes. Then in between I and the biggest

353
00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:18,720
was Shianni, I think. Yeah, maybe it's bigger, different. I don't know. I mean,

354
00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:26,400
men are more dynamic than females, for sure, like in general. So the ability of doing

355
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:40,560
easy dynamic movement in easy in terms of intensity, it's not so difficult for men. So

356
00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:47,520
in my opinion, the differences in the dynamic in females are bigger than in males. But

357
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:48,400
Karly Okay.

358
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:55,200
Anastasia Yeah. At least like I mean, like, at least like, in between the strongest athletes,

359
00:40:55,200 --> 00:41:02,320
because I consider as one of the strong in our line bars, but she's not the most of the dynamics

360
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:09,920
ones. But yes, she's because she's winning that lead. She's she's one of the best. But I don't

361
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:16,000
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.