Akiyo Noguchi
Noguchi at the World Cup in Vienna, 2010.
Personal information
NationalityJapanese
Born (1989-05-30) May 30, 1989 (age 34)
Ryūgasaki, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan[1]
OccupationProfessional rock climber
Height167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight49 kg (108 lb)
SpouseTomoa Narasaki (m. 2021)
Websitehttp://akiyonoguchi.com
Climbing career
Type of climber
Highest grade
Known forWinning the IFSC bouldering World Cup 4 times
Retired2021
Medal record
Women's competition climbing
Representing  Japan
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
World Cup 21 24 23
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Tokyo Combined
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2007 Avilés Bouldering
Silver medal – second place 2018 Innsbruck Bouldering
Silver medal – second place 2019 Hachiōji Bouldering
Silver medal – second place 2019 Hachiōji Combined
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Munich Lead
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Munich Bouldering
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Paris Bouldering
World Cup (Season)
Second place 2008 Bouldering
Winner 2008 Combined
Winner 2009 Bouldering
Winner 2009 Combined
Winner 2010 Bouldering
Second place 2011 Bouldering
Second place 2012 Bouldering
Second place 2013 Bouldering
Winner 2014 Bouldering
Winner 2014 Combined
Winner 2015 Bouldering
Second place 2015 Combined
Second place 2016 Combined
Third place 2017 Bouldering
Second place 2018 Bouldering
Second place 2018 Combined
Second place 2019 Bouldering
Second place 2019 Combined
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Combined
Updated on April 28, 2019.

Akiyo Noguchi (野口 啓代, Noguchi Akiyo, born May 30, 1989) is a Japanese professional rock climber who specializes in competition bouldering as well as outdoor bouldering and sport climbing.

She participates in both competition bouldering and competition lead climbing disciplines. She is known for winning the IFSC Climbing World Cup in Bouldering four times. In her home country, she won Bouldering Japan Cup nine times consecutively from 2005 to 2014, which no other Japanese athlete has been able to match. She retired from competition climbing after competing and winning a bronze medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics.[2][3][4]

Early life

Noguchi at the World Cup in Vienna, 2010.

Noguchi grew up on a cattle farm in the Ibaraki Prefecture. From a young age she would climb on buildings, trees and sometimes even on the cows. In 2000, when she was 11 years old, she tried a real climbing wall for the first time, during a holiday trip to Guam. Back at home she immediately joined a local climbing gym. Her father later built her a climbing wall in an old cattle barn on the farm.[5][6][7]

Competition climbing

In 2007, she started competing in the Bouldering World Cups, reaching the podium three times. In 2009, she won the World Cup in bouldering, over the previous year's champion Anna Stöhr.[8] Noguchi repeated as champion in 2010, 2014 and 2015.[9] In the 2011, 2012 and 2013 bouldering events at the World Cup she placed second.[9] She has also won the combined climbing title at the World Cup three times.[9]

Noguchi was also awarded the La Sportiva Competition Award in 2010, "for her victories and the positive spirit she exudes during competitions".[10]

In 2019 Akiyo Noguchi won a silver medal in the combined competition at the climbing World Championship which qualified her for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Noguchi had contemplated retirement from competition climbing as early as 2016, but when it was announced that climbing would become an Olympic sport in 2020 for the first time she decided to try and qualify for Olympics in her home country.[11] Noguchi attended her final IFSC Climbing World Cup in Innsbruck in June 2021, finishing a career of 169 World Cups and World Championships and 75 podium places.[12] On July 13, 2021, she published an autobiography.[13]

She finished her climbing career with a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[3][4]

Personal life

On December 25, 2021, Noguchi and fellow Japanese sport climber Tomoa Narasaki announced their marriage on their respective social media pages.[14]

Rankings

See also: Best IFSC results and Akiyo Noguchi in the Climbing World Cup

World Cup

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
Lead 42 21 24 5 11 8 20 13 7 10 30 17 15 8 9 22
Bouldering - - 6 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 4 3 2 2 9
Combined - - 5 1 1 2 3 3 2 1 2 2 6 2 2 -

[9]

World Championships

2005 2007 2009 2011 2012 2014 2016 2018 2019
Lead 3 11 8 - - 9 - 8 5
Bouldering 21 2 5 5 6 3 3 2 2
Speed - - 31 - - - - 47 34
Combined - - - - - - - 4 2

[15]

World Cup podiums

Lead

Season Gold Silver Bronze Total
2008 1 1
2009 1 1
2010 2 2
2011 0
2012 0
2013 1 1
2014 1 1
2015 0
2016 1 1
2017 0
2018 1 1
2019 1 1
2021 1 1
Total 0 4 6 10

[15]

Bouldering

Noguchi at the World Cup in Munich, 2012.
Season Gold Silver Bronze Total
2007 2 1 3
2008 1 1 1 3
2009 3 1 1 5
2010 2 1 1 4
2011 4 1 5
2012 3 3
2013 3 2 5
2014 4 1 2 7
2015 1 3 4
2016 1 2 3
2017 2 3 5
2018 3 4 7
2019 4 4
Total 21 20 17 58

[15]

Rock climbing

Redpointed routes

8c+ (5.14c):

  • Mind Control - Oliana (SPN) - December 10, 2013

8b (5.13d):

  • Liquid Finger - Joyama (JPN) - December 12, 2008

Boulder problems

8A+ (V12):

8A (V11):

See also

References

  1. ^ "Akiyo Noguchi".
  2. ^ "Sport Climbing NOGUCHI Akiyo". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 2021-08-04. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  3. ^ a b "The Tokyo Olympics will be Akiyo Noguchi's First … and Last". Climbing. 2021-06-19. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  4. ^ a b "Who Is Akiyo Noguchi? - Why Japan's Legend Is Retiring In 2021 - Climber News". www.climbernews.com. 3 July 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  5. ^ "Indoor Weekly: Akiyo Noguchi on Cows and Olympics". Gripped. 6 June 2018. Archived from the original on 2019-07-15.
  6. ^ "Akiyo Noguchi explains 2020 Olympic event sports climbing". hakuhodo-global.com. Archived from the original on 2019-07-15.
  7. ^ "Owndays meets #3 Akiyo Noguchi". Archived from the original on 2019-07-15.
  8. ^ planetmountain.com, ed. (June 16, 2009). "Coppa del Mondo Boulder 2009: Fischhuber e Noghuchi al top, Moroni è terzo". Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  9. ^ a b c d IFSC, ed. (August 20, 2019). "World Cup Rankings". Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  10. ^ Vinicio Stefanello (July 18, 2010). "Arco Rock Legend 2010 a Manolo, Ondra e Noguchi". Arco2011 (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
  11. ^ Clarke, Owen (June 19, 2021). "The Tokyo Olympics will be Akiyo Noguchi's First … and Last". climbing.com. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  12. ^ "Second Gold of the Week for Garnbret, three boulder medals for Team Japan, and a farewell to Noguchi". IFSC. June 26, 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  13. ^ "野口啓代、初の自伝本 『私とクライミング 野口啓代自伝』を7月13日に発刊｜CLIMBERS". クライマーズ公式サイト｜CLIMBERSはクライミング、ボルダリングをテーマにした総合WEBサイト (in Japanese). 4 June 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  14. ^ "Japanese sport climbing stars Noguchi, Narasaki announce marriage". Kyodo News. December 26, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  15. ^ a b c IFSC, ed. (August 20, 2019). "Noguchi's profile and rankings". Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  16. ^ "Akiyo Noguchi Crimps To Glory On 'Aguni' V12 | EpicTV Climbing Daily, Ep. 383".
  17. ^ a b "Rock Trip 2016 in Bishop". YouTube.
  18. ^ "Akiyo Noguchi's Rock Trip to Joe's Valley". YouTube.
  19. ^ youtube (ed.). "Monsterman SD". YouTube.
  20. ^ up-climbing.com, ed. (February 9, 2010). "Two female 8A – Noguchi and Matthes". Retrieved 2011-12-22.

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