Backing South Africa's Spider-Woman all the way to Olympic Gold
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Aniya Holder is a talented speed climber on her way to this year's Olympics in Paris!
Aniya Holder, 22, from Gqeberha has only recently realised that she has an extraordinary talent for speed climbing! She can "run-crawl" up a 15-meter wall in 11-point-33 seconds!
She's been doing other wall climbing disciplines, bouldering and lead, since she was 14, but two major injuries: broken fingers in 2021 and an elbow injury in 2022, put an end to it. Her coach then suggested she try speed climbing... and she's never looked back.
Her knack for scaling a wall at a very fast pace lead her to the South African National and African Continental speed climbing championships.
She qualified for the Olympic Games in December last year and it has taken over her life!
She prepares for the games in her hometown, where she works at a small Bouldering Gym with a six-meter high wall as a route setter, coach, and hold shaper. She's also an artist - but this has moved to the back burner in recent months.
There is only one 15-meter Olympic standard wall in South Africa and that's in Johannesburg. Aniya travels between the Eastern Cape and Gauteng by bus, whenever she can afford it, to train on the kind of wall that she will be facing in Paris.
READ: Lending a helping hand for children with special needs
She also has to fund her plane ticket to Paris and everything else she needs to represent South Africa from her own pocket.
Aniya has never been overseas and her mode of transport at home is a bicycle - so this can all be very overwhelming, but her friend has started a fundraising page and she's going full steam to achieve her goal of making it to the Olympic podium in Paris and to making her country proud.
REQUEST FOR: Aniya Holder
ANGEL: Everest Wealth, represented by Lundi Coetzee
SPONSORING: Everest Wealth want to support Aniya on her road to Paris in 2024. They will sponsor her flights to and from Johannesburg for training sessions leading up to the Olympic Games. They will also cover her flights to and from Paris and some spending money, with a total sponsorship of R100,000!
Aniya Holder, 22, from Gqeberha has only recently realised that she has an extraordinary talent for speed climbing! She can "run-crawl" up a 15-meter wall in 11-point-33 seconds!
She's been doing other wall climbing disciplines, bouldering and lead, since she was 14, but two major injuries: broken fingers in 2021 and an elbow injury in 2022, put an end to it. Her coach then suggested she try speed climbing... and she's never looked back.
Her knack for scaling a wall at a very fast pace lead her to the South African National and African Continental speed climbing championships.
She qualified for the Olympic Games in December last year and it has taken over her life!
She prepares for the games in her hometown, where she works at a small Bouldering Gym with a six-meter high wall as a route setter, coach, and hold shaper. She's also an artist - but this has moved to the back burner in recent months.
There is only one 15-meter Olympic standard wall in South Africa and that's in Johannesburg. Aniya travels between the Eastern Cape and Gauteng by bus, whenever she can afford it, to train on the kind of wall that she will be facing in Paris.
READ: Lending a helping hand for children with special needs
She also has to fund her plane ticket to Paris and everything else she needs to represent South Africa from her own pocket.
Aniya has never been overseas and her mode of transport at home is a bicycle - so this can all be very overwhelming, but her friend has started a fundraising page and she's going full steam to achieve her goal of making it to the Olympic podium in Paris and to making her country proud.
REQUEST FOR: Aniya Holder
ANGEL: Everest Wealth, represented by Lundi Coetzee
SPONSORING: Everest Wealth want to support Aniya on her road to Paris in 2024. They will sponsor her flights to and from Johannesburg for training sessions leading up to the Olympic Games. They will also cover her flights to and from Paris and some spending money, with a total sponsorship of R100,000!