Three-time Ninja Warrior National Finalist Josh Levin was commissioned by the Olympics earlier this month to create a fun training-at-home video. He nailed it! Many commenters on the Olympic Instagram page thought he must be related to Spiderman, while others thought it was the best version of “The Floor is Lava” they’d ever seen.
Like pretty much every sporting event on the planet, the Tokyo Summer Games have been put on hold. Luckily, a back-up plan has been put in place, and the Olympics will now be held exactly one year later than planned.
Original Dates: July 24-August 9, 2020, Paralympic Games— August 25-September 6, 2020
New Dates: July 23-August 8, 2021, Paralympic Games-- August 24 – September 5, 2021
Much of the Ninja Warrior community is especially looking forward to these Olympics because a new sport was added – climbing! The Olympic climbing event will be made up of three climbing disciplines: speed climbing, bouldering, and lead climbing. Athletes’ scores will be a result of their performance on all three.
Josh Levin has been climbing for 22 years, and his eyes have been on the Olympics since 2014. After a lifetime of training, and three years of dedicating his time, energy, and focus to qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games, Josh competed in the Combined Nationals this January. Getting one step closer to the Olympic team was his goal.
Josh finished the competition in 7th place, and did not qualify for Tokyo 2020. (Only the top 4 made it on to the final qualifying event.) However, he left with no regrets.
“While it was not the result I was hoping for, I’m proud to know that I gave the opportunity everything I had. Specifically for this event, I felt my mental and physical preparation were at a level higher than they’ve ever been before a competition, and there were moments during the rounds where I felt I performed at or even beyond my maximum potential…I’ve learned so many things about myself and the world through this process and I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have had the experiences I did.”
For Josh, the sport of climbing is the perfect mix of strength, technique, and problem-solving. He enjoys climbing indoors, outdoors, and all around the world. (Check out his recent trip to Switzerland here). And he’s hoping to make it to Tokyo to cheer on his climbing friends next year.
In the meantime, we’re also hopeful that there will be a trip to the official American Ninja Warrior course in Josh’s near future. He was all set to compete in LA this season, until everything got postponed. Our fingers are tightly crossed that we’ll see Josh and all of our other Ninja faves on the course as soon as possible!