During the World Climbing Europe Youth Series speed climbing event in St. Pölten, an Austrian sports commentator made a controversial statement during a live stream: he claimed that women are less motivated to train, which he considered more of a "boys' thing." In his apology, which has since been issued, the commentator cites the language barrier as the reason for the "miscommunication."
On August 1st, hundreds of young athletes competed in the European Cup in speed skiing in St. Pölten. During the U17 men's qualification, Austrian sports commentator Claudio Sunk drew criticism for sexist remarks.
Commentator sees lack of training motivation as the reason for low female representation in competition
Sunk and his co-commentator were discussing in the live stream, in English, why more young men than young women were participating in the competition. Sunk then said: "But is it about the training? Because I think that for women, it's more like, climbing on the rock and climbing maybe on the lead, for doing it as a hobby, it's quite fun, and lots of women [are] doing it. But when you go into the world class, you need to go to the gym, you need to train with weights, and all that stuff, and this is more the 'boy thing,' right?"
In essence, this means that women climb as a hobby or for fun and have no interest in hard strength training, which is considered more of a "boys' thing".
Sunk, a 48-year-old Austrian, regularly comments on major sporting events. He was invited to the World Climbing livestream to ask questions of his female co-host and expert. When the topic of representation came up, she pointed out... that women in general are less likely to make a good living from their sport. Sunk then called on “all women out there” to dedicate themselves to world-class speed climbing instead of “just relaxing and climbing on rocks somewhere in the woods”.
The livestream is still available on YouTube. Sunk's statements begin at 39 minutes and 19 seconds.
Completely inappropriate
Claudio Sunk's comments quickly spread across social media, drawing sharp criticism from various quarters. Swiss climber Teresa Corti described the comments as a "clear insult" to all female athletes who put hard work into their training. Former Austrian competitive climber Julia Fišer expressed shock at the remarks. Climbing Magazine The 29-year-old said she had "never doubted whether I belonged in the training room".
It was also criticized that the sexist remarks were made at a youth competition where many underage athletes participate.
I think the majority of climbers don't share this opinion. But if even one young girl gives up climbing because of such statements, that's already too much.
Julia Fischer Climbing Magazine
The Austrian climbing federation, Austria Climbing, also reacted immediately, apologizing via Instagram story to athletes, coaching teams, family members, and all spectators. They stated that Sunk's comments were "disrespectful" and had no place within the climbing community. The story is no longer available.
Meanwhile, the comments sparked a trend on Instagram: Several female climbers used the audio track with Sunk's statements and combined it with videos of themselves climbing and training to express criticism in an ironic way.
Sunk apologizes: "I would never have said these things in German."
Upon request from Climbing Magazine Following the events that unfolded, Claudio Sunk has since issued a written apology. The commentator stated that he was truly sorry his remarks had been so hurtful. Sunk, who regularly commentates on international events, admitted having great difficulty formulating his question correctly in English: "I would never have said these things in my native language." Sunk also emphasized that his comments did not reflect his personal beliefs.
I firmly believe that female competitive athletes train just as hard as men, regardless of the sport. I never meant to imply that women work less hard, are less ambitious, or less diligent.
Claudio Sunk opposite Climbing Magazine
World Climbing, the international governing body for climbing, declined to comment on the incident. It is considered unlikely that Sunk will commentate on any further climbing competitions in the future.
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Cover image credits: Jan Virt/IFSC