While we are on the subject, Here is a great little article featuring Elan and his Olympic hopes and dreams. For the full article, please visit The Globe and Mail by Justine Hunter
Elan Jonas-McRae is doing that thing that competitive climbers do – waving his arms around like a conductor with an especially difficult piece of music, while staring intently at a wall. Once he begins climbing, his actions make sense: With a sequence mapped out, he can move fluidly up the wall – and across the ceiling on a route that only the most accomplished athletes can hope to top.
Mr. Jonas-McRae, 20, is an Olympic hopeful in a sport that is itself an Olympic hopeful.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Organizing Committee wants to add five new sports, including sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing, in a bid to attract a more youthful audience to the Summer Games. If final approval is granted in August, 2016, by the International Olympic Committee, Mr. Jonas-McRae is on a track to introduce Canada to a sport that the country is well positioned to compete in.
Canadian Sean McColl, 28, is a three-time world champion in sport climbing. Currently, the North Vancouver native is ranked second internationally, and serves as president of the athlete’s commission for the International Federation of Sport Climbing. But if he is recognized in Canada outside of the climbing community, it is most likely because of his performance at the televised American Ninja Warrior competitions.
Mr. McColl was in Saanich, B.C., in December coaching Mr. Jonas-McRae and 16-year-old Kai Lightner from North Carolina. Although he hopes to compete in the Olympics himself, Mr. McColl is sharing his experience with the younger climbers who may edge him out of contention by 2020.
“For me, if the decision was taken right now, for the top twenty climbers going to the Olympics, I would be an Olympian,” Mr. McColl said. “Obviously, in five years a lot could change – maybe I wouldn’t be the best Canadian athlete in climbing in 2020. But come August, if the vote is a ‘yes,’ I’ll be training as hard as I can for the next four years to be an Olympic prospect.”
Mr. Jonas-McRae has only two years of experience in the World Cup competitions that currently define the summit of sport climbing – and already he is ranked 22nd male climber in the world.
