Gold for Toby “the Terminator” Roberts. What were you doing at 19? Roberts was fulfilling a goal set at 12, to stand on an Olympic climbing podium after a level of grappling, twisting and bending that could make onlookers feel quite dizzy. Roberts took the men’s boulder and lead after seeing off the pre-event favourite, Japan’s Sorato Anraku, at Le Bourget climbing centre. “Oh my God,” whispered Roberts to himself, slumping to his knees as the scale of his achievement hit home.
“Me and my dad created a plan to get to this stage,” Roberts said. “It’s been a journey, a lot of competitions, ups and downs; to finally get to this stage in front of this crowd and win a gold medal is just a dream come true.
“I’ve always just liked to climb stuff. When I was younger, I was obviously climbing trees and climbing out of my little cot when I was a little baby. I always had a natural urge to climb. When I got introduced to an after-school club, I got instantly hooked and kept coming back for more.” And more, and more, and more. Now Roberts has scaled the steepest hill of them all.
The transferable skills of a sport climber – the discipline was only introduced to the Olympics pre-Tokyo – is an interesting subject to ponder. This is a domain that requires strength, balance and problem-solving. Roberts would be a hugely effective cat burglar or stunt man in future James Bond movies. He has not yet contemplated the future, and rightly; the Terminator stood in obvious disbelief after taking delivery of his medal. “To find out you’ve won Olympic gold, there’s definitely going to be a lot of shock there,” he admitted. “Going into the competition I tried to remove all expectations and to realise that I’d won the gold was just a rush of adrenaline and emotion and happiness.”
The subject of his nickname was understandably raised. Roberts was given it by British teammates on account of his competitive attitude. The man himself is not entirely thrilled by the title, which feels unfortunate. So what would he rather be called? “Toby. I couldn’t really give myself a nickname.” The Terminator is a straight shooter.
Roberts sat third after the boulder round, with Anraku at that point the man to catch. The American Colin Duffy was in the silver medal position. In a moment of fitting sporting theatre, Roberts and Anraku were the last two to take to the 15m high lead. Competitors have no knowledge of the course until shortly before they are due to tackle it, meaning they appear with binoculars in hand to plot out a preferred route.
Roberts scored an excellent 92.1 to take his overall tally to 155.2. The Japanese athlete knew what he had to do and was seemingly unerringly on his way to overtaking the Briton’s mark, but then came off the wall and missed out by almost 10 points after adding 76.1 to his 69.3 boulder. Jakob Schubert took bronze for Austria. Team GB’s other competitor, Hamish McArthur, was fifth.
“An incredible athlete, as you can see,” said McArthur of Roberts. “One of the best at handling pressure that I know. He is more driven than me to win. I’m just being honest about that, he really is. This is the most important thing in the world for him, and he’s come out with that expectation on himself, and everyone else’s expectation on him.”
Roberts is clearly as driven as he is articulate. His success will lead, he and McArthur hope, to increased funding for climbers. If the giddy crowd in the north-east of Paris is anything to go by, this is a sport that can capture imaginations.
Roberts’ father, Tristian, doubles up as his coach. During lockdown he built a climbing wall in the family back garden to allow his son to continue with his chosen pursuit. Tristian, a software developer by day, rebuffs any sense of sacrifice to allow his son to follow his dream.
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“That isn’t a word we use,” he said. “He is not and we are not as a family sacrificing anything. When he is out doing what he loves, he wouldn’t do anything else. For me and my wife watching him doing what he loves, that is not sacrifice, it is just an absolute privilege. To get to experience things like this is incredible.
“As soon as he pulls on the wall there is nothing to do from a coaching perspective. Parent kicks in. It was just really hard to watch, I have no idea what my heart reached just from sitting still. It was an emotional rollercoaster. It is hard to watch when you are helpless and you know it means so much to him.”
Toby is young and engaging enough to draw eyeballs to his sport. He is a regular content creator via YouTube. A sector that feels niche in some ways should actually be very simple to access. “Hopefully this is amazing for British climbing,” Tristian added. “There are climbing gyms popping up all over the place. He walked into one of them for the first time when he was eight. Eleven years later he has a gold medal. If this leads people towards trying it, particularly in Great Britain, that would be incredible.”
Toby is planning a party. He is just not entirely sure when, given he wants to return to Le Bourget on Saturday morning to support Team GB’s female climbers. As for 2028 and Los Angeles? Inevitably, he will be back.