LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Janja Garnbret and Brooke Raboutou cried tears of joy as they hugged after the bouldering and lead sport climbing finals at the Paris Games on Saturday.

Garnbret had just cemented her status as one of the sport’s biggest stars by defending her Olympic title. Raboutou celebrated the first Olympic climbing medal for the US women’s team.

“We have an incredible friendship where we both want the other to do their best and that’s what happened today,” said Raboutou, who calls Garnbret her idol. “And it feels really good to share that with someone and represent the sport in a way where we know we’re doing it right and doing it for ourselves.”

Garnbret, the Slovenian who won the combined gold in his Olympic sport climbing debut at the Tokyo Games three years ago, defeated Raboutou on the final climb of the day at Le Bourget to secure the gold.

“That was our wish,” said Garnbret. “It was our pact, to stand on the Olympic podium together. So she’s been through a lot. And I’m so happy for her that she made it.”

Raboutou, who trained with Garnbret in Slovenia, said the silver medal was special because of her family ties to France.

“I’m half French, my French family is here and I enjoyed the support of the spectators. I felt that,” said 23-year-old Raboutou. “I know that they are so attached to their nationality. It’s a good feeling that they support me too and that I have my roots here and can combine them.”

The first climbing medal for the United States in Paris was Sam Watson’s bronze in the men’s speed event. The only other medal ever won by U.S. climbers was Nathaniel Coleman’s silver in Tokyo in the combined event.

Austrian Jessica Pilz won bronze.

Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw won the gold medal in the women’s speed competition on Wednesday.

Indonesian Leonardo Veddriq won gold in the men’s speed competition and Britain’s Toby Roberts won gold in the men’s lead and boulder competition.

In Tokyo, bouldering and lead were combined with speed and only one medal each was awarded for men and women.

No other female athlete has won as many international climbing titles as Garnbret, who makes as many headlines for her dominance in the sport as for her commitment to eradicating eating disorders in sport climbing.

The eight-time world champion had to take a break for a while after breaking her toe last year.

She said anything less than gold would have meant an “unsuccessful” Olympics for her. Garnbret, 25, said she was worried when she thought she had broken a finger while climbing.

“I was really scared because my finger was stuck between two holes and I couldn’t pull it out,” she said. “But I had so much adrenaline in my blood that … I didn’t care. I told myself, ‘I don’t care if I’m missing a hand or a finger.’ I was going to go out there and climb the route.”

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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