Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi has been appointed as the Athlete Role Model for Sport Climbing for the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026.

Rekabi’s role was confirmed in a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland between the climber, IFSC President Marco Scolaris and IOC President Thomas Bach in which the three spoke about Rekabi’s participation in the IOC’s Women in Sport High-Performance (WISH) programme.

The WISH programme, funded by the Olympic Solidarity, focuses on developing high performance female coaches and Rekabi was part of the fourth cohort to enter the programme.

Discussions between the two presidents and the Iranian climber also focussed on Rekabi’s career which began on the international stage in Arco, Italy at the IFSC World Championships 2011 and has included a bronze medal at the World Championships Moscow 2021 in the ‘Combined’ format used in Sport Climbing’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.

President Scolaris proposed Rekabi as a role model for the sport following her lengthy career at the top level and her continued work in coaching in her home nation, and the nomination was supported by President Bach.