Olympic climbing: Toby Roberts wins climbing gold for Team GB
Roberts was eight when he first visited an indoor climbing centre and 12 when it was announced climbing would make its Olympic debut in Tokyo.
It was from there he and his father Tristian mapped out a route to the Olympics.
“I have been training for this moment my whole life,” added Roberts.
“To say it hasn’t sunk in is an understatement. I imagine later it will be a flood of emotions. It is a goal I have been training towards for like 10 years.”
During the Covid-19 lockdowns “he levelled up”, external by practising in the garden and soon after his father rented accommodation in Austria to gain access to better facilities.
He won his first World Cup medal in 2022 and last year won golds in the boulder and lead individual events.
At the Olympics both events are combined and he achieved the third-best scores in each to secure overall gold.
Roberts, who also trains on mountains in France and Spain, made it to the difficult, final section of the wall climb before he fell but the error by his Japanese rival came on the previous section.
“We never talked about medals, just what can he do and the path to get there,” said his father, who is also his coach.
“Everyone can have a good plan, but to implement it like he has and show up every day to make it happen, that is what he has done.”
His success had already meant he has been give the nickname Toby ‘The Terminator’ Roberts – a reference to the 1980s film character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“It”s not a self-given nickname,” he said.
“I’m not sure how I feel about it. I don’t think I could really give myself a nickname. I think I’d just call myself Toby.”
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