Two climbers from the 68 in Paris 2024 have birthday's during the Games - both from RSA
An Olympic Games debut is a big moment for anyone. It produces life-long memories and moments to talk about for years to come. But for two South African Speed climbers, they added a little extra layer to their story by celebrating their birthdays during Paris 2024.
Today, 1 August, is the first day Joshua Bruyns has visited and started training at the Le Bourget Olympic venue. It is also his 21st birthday.
“It’s a fun and memorable 21st birthday to have that’s for sure,” said Bruyns, “celebrating it in the Olympic village and my first time at the training facility as well.”
“It actually popped into my mind a few days after qualifying that I would be turning 21 in the village and I thought ‘wow, it’s going to be such a fun experience and pretty unique’ – not many people can say they have celebrated their 21st in the Olympic village.
“We found out that we would be moving in on the 31st [July] and I thought ‘ok, perfect, my birthday will be one of the first days in the village’.”
Bruyns is one half of the South African Speed team, and also one half of the Sport Climbing competitors with an Olympic birthday, the other is teammate Aniya Holder who will celebrate turning 23 on 3 August – if she can remember that is.
Holder said: “Honestly, I keep forgetting about my birthday as it’s not the most important thing right now – but it’s cool. When I first qualified I thought yes, it will be my birthday at the Olympics, now, I just keep forgetting.”
So what is the most important thing for Holder if a birthday doesn’t make the list: “Competing is the most important thing for me right now. I’m nervous, but luckily there’s no real expectation on me. I know I’m the slowest, don’t get me wrong I will obviously do my best, but on paper I know where I stand.
“Not having any pressure from the outside is quite nice, and now I can focus on breaking the African record which is what I want. My pressure comes from me because I really want that record.”
Birthday boy Bruyns claims to be able to recite every Olympic host from 1896 through to 2032, and although he hasn’t been tested on that ‘fact’ yet, he explains what it is like to now be a part of that history.
Bruyns said: “It's really special to be part of history. In London at the 2012 Games I actually got to watch a little bit of the athletics and the cycling, and I think that’s where my spark really was lit for the Olympics. I’m a big sports fan and sports nerd in general and particularly Olympic sports in general, so it’s super special to be here for me.”
With Holder’s Paris 2024 goal making a new African record, what about Bruyns?
“The goal is to soak in the Olympic spirit and experience and really engage with it. In terms of performance, I just want to lay down the best performance I can.
“This is such an unpredictable format with two qualification rounds, but the Elimination is really the one that counts. Seeding you know you are competing again, but Elimination is about getting through to Finals and I would really love that. But there’s a lot of variables you can’t control with others so I just want to run the best I can and produce some good times.”
Bruyns’ hunt for Finals racing begins with qualification on Tuesday 6 August while Holder will be hoping she can fulfil her goal and set a new African record when her qualification begins a day earlier on Monday 5 August.