Olympic Qualification Series · Shanghai
May 16-19 Shanghai Huangpu Riverside
For Nonaka, the Tokyo Olympics not only made her a household name in Japan, but she also showed the world how Gen Z performed on the rock wall.
Miho Nonaka
Nonaka Ikumoe
Nationality: Japan
Sport: Rock climbing
Olympic medals: 1 silver (Tokyo 2020 women's all-around)
Olympic experience: 1 time
Olympic debut: Tokyo 2020
Year of birth: 1997
Born in 1997, Nonaka defeated his compatriot and former Japanese climbing sister Keishiro Noguchi to win a silver medal on her Olympic debut, behind perhaps one of the greatest climbers of all time, Slovenian star Yania Gambret. In addition to his outstanding climbing skills, Nonaka always appears on the field with bright hair color, bold eye makeup, SpongeBob SquarePants' magnesium powder bag and a wanton smile...... All in all, it's unforgettable.
Rock climbing plays an important role in the wilderness. She was introduced to the sport at the age of 9 because her father loved mountaineering and her sister, who was two years her senior, was already training at the gym. The healthy rivalry between the sisters motivates Nonaka to improve and improve, making her mark at the World Cup at the age of 17, and racing year after year has seen her grow in bouldering: third in 2015, second in 2016 and finally in 2018.
After confirming her impact on the Tokyo Olympics, Nonaka began to strengthen her ability in speed and difficulty races. To this end, she launched a crowdfunding campaign in 2018. At that time, there were few training venues suitable for speed climbing in Japan, and although a speed climbing wall was built in 2017 in Akishima City, Tokyo, it was far from the city center, so it was difficult for Nonaka to find time to train regularly.
"I'm the record holder in speed climbing among the current Japanese women, but I'm nearly two seconds behind the world's top athletes, which means that my training intensity is not enough!" said Nonaka in a public fundraising proposal, designing a T-shirt and handbag in return, and giving the project the ideal name "All for the View from the Top."
Just one month after the crowdfunding campaign began, Nonaka raised 4,721,700 yen, far exceeding the previous target of 2.5 million yen. Combined with the support of Tokyo Metropolitan University, the 15-meter-high and 3-meter-wide speed climbing wall was officially opened on campus in December 2018 at a cost of nearly 6 million yen, and the excess fundraising was made up by Nonaka, and the outdoor training ground is only 15 minutes by bike from her residence.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Nonaka set a new personal best in the speed race with a time of 7.55 seconds. Until last summer, when the climbing wall was demolished, Nonaka still recalled his Olympic highlights, "Without everyone's support, without this climbing wall, I would not have been able to break through myself in the Olympics." On that day, she recorded the whole process of the "retirement" of the climbing wall, and then posted a farewell video on her Youtube account, "I recall too many pictures, passing residents and even elementary school students will cheer me on, it's hard to imagine that so many people are giving trust and help for my dream!"
Documenting life on the Internet is a hobby of Imu Nonaka. She has 33,000 subscribers on her Youtube account and more than 340,000 followers on Instagram.
In addition to the daily training of the competition, travel vlogs, barbecue meals, beauty videos, curling iron use skills, and even bathing pet cats are all content she shares on social platforms. At the beginning of April, Nonaka Shengmeng posted a new selfie after dyeing her hair, the orange and red and green double colors were extremely eye-catching, and she also participated in the World Cup sub-tournaments held in Keqiao and Wujiang with her new hair color. She said that she had to wear makeup every day when she went out, and that dyeing her hair had become almost mandatory before the game, even with a strong psychological suggestion, "I know it will make me the center of attention, but it doesn't matter, you have to look at it all with a positive attitude." ”
Unfortunately, the new hair color did not bring good luck, and Nonaka failed to make it to the finals in both stops. After the match, she took to Instagram to review her performance and admitted that she was a little disappointed with the result, because there was no problem with the competitive form, but the performance on the field was not satisfactory. It's a bit like her adolescence, because she's taller than her peers, and it's hard for her to beat her nimble opponents in competitions during that time, so frustrated that she even hid in her room crying and writing in her diary.
Now, no longer hiding her emotions, she knows that sooner or later difficulties will come back, such as the injuries she suffered before the Tokyo Olympics, or the defeat in the youth category a few years ago, or even the rivalry with her sister when she was younger. But I'm not going to let that down, and the next day I'm going to do it all over again, and even be more motivated. She posted a powerful emoji to her tweet to show her determination, "I'll adjust myself and come back stronger!"
The highlight of Nonaka's schedule is the Olympic Qualification Series in Shanghai in May. We look forward to the Gen Z climbing star who will amaze the arena again.