Peak profits
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2024
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Olympics in Tokyo, some jaw dropping films, and a hardwired desire to be in the great outdoors. These are just some of the reasons credited with boosting the popularity of climbing. Hundreds of indoor bouldering gyms have cropped up in the US since the 1990s, and the sport is spreading across the world.
Although still concentrated in North America and Europe, more and more countries are joining the International Federation of Sport Climbing, and the millions of people taking part are attracting the attention of brands and financial backers. We hear from climbing business experts and the UK’s most successful competitive climber, Shauna Coxsey, to find out more.
(Picture: Shauna Coxey. Credit: Getty Images)
Presented and produced by Hannah Bewley
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 1969, a plan to show support for an anti-racism protest turned the lives of 14 promising black student athletes upside down. |
| 0:09.8 | Amazing sports stories from the BBC World Service tells their story. |
| 0:14.3 | Search for amazing sports stories wherever you get your BBC podcasts. |
| 0:24.9 | Music at your BBC podcasts. I think climbing is like kind of sexy. |
| 0:28.9 | I've won gold medals, I've won more titles, |
| 0:31.5 | I've competed at the Olympic Games, |
| 0:33.3 | but all of that seems insignificant compared to the fact that I still love it. |
| 0:38.2 | It feels almost otherworldly sometimes. |
| 0:40.3 | Like in climbing, you can literally fly. |
| 0:42.5 | There are moments where you are totally detached from the wall and you are flying through the air. |
| 0:49.2 | Today on Business Daily, we're talking about the business of climbing. |
| 0:52.6 | How did it ascend from a sport carried out |
| 0:55.2 | by people known to many as dirtbags to a huge industry with sleek gyms in some of the coolest |
| 1:00.3 | neighbourhoods. The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and some well-known films are credited with transforming |
| 1:05.8 | the sport from an adrenaline-fueled activity in the mountains to a pre-work workout. |
| 1:15.3 | But the number of climbing gyms had been growing steadily by more than 6% each year. |
| 1:20.1 | We're in a position now with the growth of the sport, just kind of snowballing. |
| 1:21.5 | It's getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. |
| 1:26.3 | We'll hear from world champions, former dirtbags, and those capitalizing on the interest. |
| 1:27.9 | That's all coming up with me, |
| 1:37.7 | Hannah Buehley. Let's start at the beginning with our feet firmly on the ground. I'm at the depot climbing centre in Manchester in the UK. Joining me for a climb is Meg Bunce, retail manager for the company. |
| 1:47.1 | The depot Manchester is one of seven sites across the UK that we have. |
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