When Olympic climber Kyra Condie began experiencing back pain at 12 years old, she knew something was wrong.
It turned out she had scoliosis, and the diagnosis threatened her young climbing career.
“(I) got the surgery when I was thirteen, and then continued climbing afterwords,” Condie said. “And, I actually didn’t start doing really well in climbing until after my surgery. I think it really came at the right time where I knew then that that’s what I wanted to do.”
Fast forward to 2023, Condie is an Olympian in climbing with ambitions of winning a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Getting to Tokyo in 2021 was a major accomplishment for Condie. However, she said she did not accomplish all of her goals there, placing 11th in Combined Women’s Sports Climbing.
“So I’d really love a chance at redemption on the Olympic stage” Condie said. “It would be really special to represent climbing again on that stage.”