The postcard I received today is part of a set issued by Taiwan Post depicting different sports. According to the sender, rock climbing is not especially popular in Taiwan, making its inclusion in the series seem a little surprising. Taiwan didn't have any athletes participating in the climbing events.  I wonder if the choice was influenced by the Olympic Games. Sport climbing made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and returned for its second appearance at the Paris Olympics in 2024. As the sport continues to grow internationally, it makes sense that postal administrations would feature it as part of a collection celebrating modern sports. The Paris Olympics featured four medal events in sport climbing: men's and women's speed climbing, and men's and women's combined boulder and lead climbing. In the combined events, Toby Roberts of Great Britain claimed the men's gold medal, while Janja Garnbret of Slovenia successfully defended her Olympic title in ...

A great card commemorating Chinese athletes at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The sender says that Xie Siyi comes from his hometown of Shantou. Xie Siyi  谢思埸  has won four gold medals at the World Aquatic Championships and three Olympic gold medals. He first started as a 10 metre synchro diver but suffered a serious injuring in 2012. After that he focused on the springboard. He competes in the 1 metre, 3 metre, and 3 metre synchro events.  His four gold medals at the World Aquatic Championships are for the 1 metre springboard (2015), 3 metre springboard (2017, 2019), and 3 metre synchro (2019) He won his two gold medals at the Olympics at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning the 3 metre springboard event and the 3 metre synchro events. At the 2024 Paris Olympics he defended his Olympic gold medal in the 3 metre springboard event. A teammate took the silver.