Alberto Ginés López: young, strong and taciturn

The 18-year-old Spaniard is a whiz kid. But who is he actually? Symbolic of his meteoric rise, the information about his person is lagging behind. Even the Spanish media don't know much about their protégé. We'll wear it together.

It reads shockingly unspectacular what you can find on the net these days about the person Ginés López.

His parents took him climbing when he was only three years old, and seven years later coach David Macià recognized Alberto's talent and took the child prodigy under his wing. This was followed by quick successes in youth competitions (9 gold medals), then first scent marks in the elite and now Olympic champions. As a 15-year-old he cracked grade 9a with "Victimes del Futur" in Margalef - originally rated 8c+, upgraded after a broken grip. At 16 he left home to pursue his climbing career in Barcelona.

The Spanish media mainly classify their Olympic champion statistically: never before has a Spanish climber celebrated his first competitive successes so young, it never succeeded Edu Marin or Patxi Usobiaga or Ramón Julián Puigblanqué. It is emphasized that Ginés López is very versatile (we have seen) and that he can win many more medals if he continues to work hard (thanks).

The idol displaces

The largest daily newspaper in the country (El Pais) conducted an interview with him. When asked why he only cheered cautiously when his victory was certain, he replied: “I'm not the type who expresses my feelings strongly and I wasn't sure whether I had won. So I held back so as not to make a fool of myself. "

It is unbelievable how quickly he caught up with his idols. “I figured my rivals would be stronger than ever. It wasn't long ago that I watched videos by Adam Ondra or Jakob Schubert and dreamed of being like them. I was able to catch up almost overnight and I'm going to compete against them today. Fortunately, many of them are now very good friends. "

Adam Ondra invited Alberto Ginés López to the Czech Republic in 2019

It was 2019 Adam Ondrawho invited the young Spaniard to the Czech Republic for a training session. “I was living the dream of a boy with his idol” - now, two years later, the idol was left behind at Olympia. When asked about this, Ginés López says: “I couldn't yet talk to Ondra, but I can imagine that the fact that he doesn't have a medal is a thorn in his side. "

Chris Sharma reacts

His preparation for the Olympics focused primarily on the speed discipline, which was where he had the most room for improvement (in retrospect, that was the right strategy; here let's analyze why the speed discipline made the difference). Due to inadequate training facilities in Spain, it is difficult to train boulder and lead anyway. On the one hand, the appropriate walls and blocks were missing, but the Olympic champion also found a center where all athletes trained together.

"If my medal is not to remain an isolated case, we have to start working now and think not only of 2024, but also of 2028." State funding for sport is needed in order to have adequate training opportunities - this is not interesting for private investors. The Spaniard by choice Chris Sharma reacted promptly to this statement: “There you have it”, he wrote to Ginés López on Instagram and referred to his climbing gyms in Barcelona and Madrid.

For now, Alberto Ginés López is going to France on the rock with freshly tattooed Olympic rings on his arm. When asked about his rock career, he reveals that his focus is only on the competition - but now he's allowing himself two weeks of vacation with his father and friends in Céüse.

This is an exception, the World Cup is announced again in September.

That might interest you

• Will Adam Ondra benefit from Bassa Mawem's injury?
• Why is Janja Garnbret the strongest competitive climber in the world?
• Jakob Schubert on the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo

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Credits: Cover picture Daniel Gajda / IFSC