Speed climber Aniya Holder books ticket to Olympics
South End speed climber Aniya Holder will target steep success in Paris after securing her ticket to the 2024 Summer Olympics with a R100,000 donation to ensure her dreams take flight.
Holder, 22, adds to the more than 90 SA athletes appearing at the Games and competing across 15 disciplines from July 26 to August 11.
She qualified for the Games after clinching the top spot at the African Qualifier competitive sports climbing event in Tshwane in December.
Holder and three other athletes — two men and a woman — will compete in combined boulder and lead and designated speed events.
“[The feeling of winning and qualifying] is still sinking in. It still feels surreal.
“It doesn’t feel like it should be me at all.
“This is the sort of thing that happens to everybody else,” Holder said.
She had put in a similarly emphatic effort at the preceding SA National Climbing Federation selections in Durban two months earlier, winning gold to secure passage to the African Qualifier.
The sponsorship, from Gauteng-based private investment and wealth management company Everest Wealth, came about after commercial station Jacaranda FM put out a call on its “Good Morning Angels” fundraising initiative.
“This generous sponsorship aims to cover her training and competition expenses as she prepares for the Olympic Games,” Everest Wealth marketing manager Lundi Coetzee said.
“The journey to the Olympics presents significant financial challenges, including the necessity for frequent travel to Johannesburg to train on the only Olympic standard wall in SA.”
Coetzee said the company admired the athlete’s commitment to the sport as the only Eastern Cape climber to attain Olympian status last year.
“Understanding the hurdles Aniya faces, we will not only sponsor her flights to and from Johannesburg for essential
training sessions but will cover her travel to Paris and provide spending money, ensuring she can focus entirely on her Olympic dream.”
Holder also held a fundraising campaign due to the pressure of needing to cover most of the expenses herself, and regularly travels by bus from Gqeberha to Joburg to practise.