Rope climbing is an adventurous sport in which the participants try to climb on a vertical rope without using any equipment. Rope climbing is widely practised in military training. The World Police and Fire Games are primarily based on rope climbing.
Rope climbing is much popular in France. Various competitions are held in public places such as in the malls and training fields. Since 1993, enthusiasts from the Czech Republic resurrected rope climbing and started organizing the national as well as domestic competitions. The sport is also a great exercise which strengthens the muscles.
Rope climbing is a sport that can be performed as a team or individually. The objective of the sport is to climb the rope without using any specialized equipment and reach the finishing point in the minimum time.
The participants must climb faster than opponents. The climbing can be performed either indoors or outdoors.
Initially, at the top of the rope, a circular tambourine was present with lampblack in its underside position, which all the players used to touch to complete their climb. The length of the rope majorly depends on the competitions where they are organized.
For the first time, rope climbing was introduced in 1544 by a German primer on gymnastic events who recommended rope climbing for children and adults as a part of the exercise.
For the first time, the game was included in the Hellenic Games in 1859, and then in 1896, the Olympic Games included rope climbing in its gymnastic events.
The game was a part of the gymnastic events in the Olympics until 1932. During the first Olympic event, the rope was almost 14 meters long, and the competitors could only climb via holding the rope with their legs in either straight or horizontal position while ascending with the help of hands.
In ancient times, the events were held outdoors. The climbers have to ascend while being in an L-shaped position. In 1904, the rules changed, and the rope length was reduced to 25 feet, i.e. 7.62 meters. By now, the winning criteria included the speed by which any climber ascends, the lesser time they take, the more points they earn.
In the 1906 Interim Games, the rules were again changed, and the size of the rope was reduced to 10 meters.
G. Alimbrantis was the winner of this event who completed his rope climbing in just 11.4 seconds. In 1924, in the Olympic Games which was held in Paris, the length of the rope was reduced to 8 meters.
In 1932, Los Angeles games, rope climbing was again explored by an American climber named Raymond Bass completed his entire climb on a 25-foot long rope in a mere 6.7 seconds. Although after 1932, the event of rope climbing was discarded from the Olympics yet, it was popular in America.
