Meet Brooke Raboutou, Team USA sport climbing star competing in boulder and lead

Meet Brooke Raboutou, Team USA sport climbing star competing in boulder and lead

August 7, 2024

Brooke Raboutou, one of Team USA’s star sport climbers, will be competing in the combined bouldering and lead semifinals at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.

Rabouotu, 23, came in fifth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in her Olympic debut.

She’s a favorite to make it onto the podium in Paris. At the 2023 world championships, Raboutou finished fourth in combined lead and bouldering and third in bouldering.

Raboutou’s parents are former world cup champions Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou and Didier Raboutou, and her brother is a successful outdoor climber, according to her Team USA athlete bio.

She was the first U.S. climber to qualify for an Olympics.

We put climber Brooke Raboutou in a Time Machine to relive the moments that brought her to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

When are the women’s boulder and lead semifinals and finals?

The women’s boulder and lead semifinals are at 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, Aug. 8.

The women’s final bounder event is on Saturday, Aug. 10 at 4:15 a.m. ET.

The women’s final lead event is on Saturday, Aug. 10 at 6:35 a.m. ET after which medals will be awarded.

How to watch the women’s combined boulder and lead events in Paris?

The women’s semifinals on Thursday will be live on Peacock and stream here at NBCOlympics.com.

The women’s finals on Saturday will be live on Peacock and streaming at NBCOlympics.com. They will replay on E! later Saturday morning and on NBC in late night.

Where is Brooke Raboutou from?

Raboutou is a native of Boulder, Colorado, which is where she lives and trains. She graduated from the University of San Diego, where she studied psychology and marketing.

Sport climber Brooke Raboutou tried to see how well she knows miming, the popular French art dating back to the 16th century.

What is Bouldering and Lead?

In Bouldering, climbers scale four “problems,” like bounders, without harness.

In Lead, climbers do use a harness and scale up a wall with a rope and carabiners.

How is scoring done in Bouldering and Lead?

Scores from the Bouldering and Lead rounds are combined to determine a total score in each round and climbers are ranked based on those scores. The three highest scores by climbers in the final earn the gold, silver and bronze medals.



Getty Images

SHANGHAI, CHINA – MAY 19: Gold medalist Brooke Raboutou of the United States poses for a photo during the medal ceremony for the Women’s Sport Climbing Boulder & Lead Final on day four of 2024 Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai on May 19, 2024 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Zhe Ji/Getty Images)

Who won the women’s Boulder and Lead medals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?

Slovenia won the gold medal in 2020, while Japan won the silver and bronze medals.



Getty Images

SHANGHAI, CHINA – MAY 19: Brooke Raboutou of the United States competes in the Women’s Sport Climbing Boulder & Lead Final on day four of 2024 Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai on May 19, 2024 in Shanghai, China.(Photo by Zhe Ji/Getty Images)

The climber gave us a step-by-step walkthrough, and we followed her recipe word-for-word.