belay devices at the Olympics

Does anyone know what belay devices were being used at the Olympics this year?  It looked to me like they were ATCs.  If that is correct it seems to contradict the position that ATCs are "outdated technology" and "belay equipment has evolved".

Imagine belaying an athlete in the Olympics or world cup with a grigri+ and short roping the hell out of the climber?

You can look up the IFSC rules (this would help several threads right now) for lead climbing and it specifies a tube style device for the exact purpose Igor mentioned.

They do instant lowers (more extreme than a soft catch). It would not work with an assisted breaking device. 

Dan Raymond wrote:

 If that is correct it seems to contradict the position that ATC's are "outdated technology" and "belay equipment has evolved".

uhhhh, who says that????

curt86iroc wrote:

uhhhh, who says that????

Companies trying to sell more expensive devices

curt86iroc wrote:

uhhhh, who says that????

Local gyms (and/or their insurance companies).  G1 Climbing in Broomfield, CO banned ATC devices starting this month.

call me crazy, but maybe "organizing the literal Olympics" differs from "running a commercial facility where aging Boy Scout leaders wander in with a dozen children and say 'well I'm pretty sure I remember how to belay with a moonder hitch, hue hue hue hue'"

couldn't say for sure though

Grigri was banned from IFSC lead climbing after a climber fell & broke her (wrist/ankle?) over a tiered roof wall, with the assumption that had the belayer been using an ATC, he could've slipped more rope for the falling climber to clear the roof.

But really, if you are a world cup belayer, you should be able to use an ATC safely, w/o short roping, & give a very soft catch.

I feel like the very best climbers in the world at the most elite competition in their sport have different safety criteria and resources than your average gym.

BTW, at most youth lead climbing comps the belayers also use ATCs.

As someone mentioned above, it's because once you fall off at a comp, the belayer literally brings you straight to the ground most of the time, almost without a "catch." 

The olympic belayers only have to catch 1 fall and no holding the climbers to work moves.  Gri Gris are for projecting - ie, sport and gym climbing - and they are the safer and more common tool for that task.  Go review pix of any of these athletes training.

I've lead belayed numerous times for USAC Championship events (Regionals/Divisionals/Nationals). For Regionals/Divisionals, they're looking for competent belayers with whatever device you're comfortable with. For Nationals, they have a much larger pool to pull from, and the stakes are higher, so they vet every single belayer. (You literally fill out an application, and they do check your references.) They used to require tube-style devices, but now allow ABD's. This year, even though the gym that hosted Nationals requires ABD's for all belayers, USAC negotiated an exception so that tubes would be allowed.

In the past, as noted by Senor Arroz, once you fell, they'd decelerate you and lower you straight to the ground. Now, they instruct belayers to at least "pause" the climber before lowering, so that there is an obvious catch, and parents don't freak out.

They also have the other guy, pulling rope out of the bucket. Presumably backing up the belayer too. But pretty stressful gig I'd say, to belay the Olympics. Don't want to short rope someone at the culmination of years of training. I'd rather be the rope bucket guy... 

Dan Raymond wrote:

Does anyone know what belay devices were being used at the Olympics this year?  It looked to me like they were ATCs.  If that is correct it seems to contradict the position that ATCs are "outdated technology" and "belay equipment has evolved".

Also saw people on horses in Japan. And loads of bicycles. Clearly refutes the idea that motorized transport is superior. Or could be, maybe that different tools have different qualities that may overlap, but yet one is better in one area than the other? Nah, probably not it... 

Andrew Krajnik wrote:

In the past, as noted by Senor Arroz, once you fell, they'd decelerate you and lower you straight to the ground. Now, they instruct belayers to at least "pause" the climber before lowering, so that there is an obvious catch, and parents don't freak out.

that's good news because, speaking as a former comp parent, it was unsettling to see my 9-year-old plummeting straight to the ground without a pause while being belayed by an unknown person. A stop and go is a good practice.