A group of elite climbers are speaking out about eating disorders and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), in hopes that the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) will stop unhealthy athletes competing, including at this year's Olympics. - REUTERS
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00:00 [tires screeching]
00:01 Ahead of the 2024 Olympics, elite climbers are raising the alarm on eating disorders.
00:06 "Losing weight in climbing is always seen as a good thing."
00:10 Kai Leitner is one of them. He was a youth climbing world champion,
00:16 but at 14, he was told his liver was close to failure. He also fractured his spine in two places
00:23 and realized the restrictions he put on his eating had spun out of control.
00:28 "With climbing, it's just the obsession with thinness in our sport is so pervasive
00:36 that it doesn't seem out of place."
00:38 Though he was never diagnosed, Leitner is speaking out about relative energy deficiency
00:44 in sport, or REDS, where athletes don't eat enough to fuel themselves.
00:49 It was recognized by the International Olympics Committee as a syndrome in 2014,
00:55 and its effects can lead to low immunity, decreased bone density,
00:59 and disturbed sleep, as well as increased risk of injury.
01:02 It's widespread in gymnastics, ice skating, artistic swimming, endurance, and weight class
01:10 sports. In a 2022 survey of female sport climbers, 15 percent said they currently had an eating
01:17 disorder, while almost 16 percent said they didn't have periods, a common REDS symptom.
01:24 "I mean, there's a lot of teams, which I won't mention by name, but that happen around the world
01:31 that require certain weight requirements from their athletes. Like, they persuade them to
01:37 lose weight, like national federations, and that's just normal."
01:42 Leitner and other athletes are calling for the International Federation of Sport Climbing
01:48 to stop unhealthy athletes from competing, including at Paris 2024.
01:54 Ukrainian climber Zhenya Kazbekova says for years, the IFSC told athletes it was impossible
02:01 for them to come up with regulations. Their solution was to leave it to the national federations.
02:07 "That's where the problems occurred in the first place, where national federations were
02:11 very much into having results and medals, so that just goes against banning or trying to do
02:19 something about athletes who are unhealthy if they are bringing the results."
02:24 The IFSC used to measure climbers' body mass index to flag athletes dangerously underweight,
02:30 though it didn't stop anyone from competing.
02:33 But it stopped doing even that last year at World Cups without any explanation. The measure was
02:40 reintroduced in 2023 after public outcry, and doctors even resigned over the issue.
02:46 IFSC President Marco Scalera says stronger rules are being developed for 2024.
02:53 "I trust my team, I trust this new medical commission, I'm sure that we'll find the
02:59 proper way to guarantee that only healthy athletes can participate in Paris."
03:06 Scalera says to protect athletes, RED's regulations need to withstand legal challenges,
03:13 adding that if the IFSC lost a court case, it might have to shelve the policy for one to two years.
03:20 "And then we will authorize those who are unhealthy to compete when
03:25 maybe with the proper approach we will limit the damage for them."