Climbing will not be included in the 2020 Games. Photo: gego2605 CC-BY-SA-2.0

Olympic bosses have thwarted climbers’ attempts to have their sport included in the Games.

The International Olympic Committee today turned down the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s pitch to have the activity included in the 2020 Olympics.

The federation had been hopeful today’s St Petersburg meeting would choose its climbing triathlon event for inclusion on the 60th anniversary of the first successful Everest ascent.

But the IOC’s executive board instead picked wrestling, squash and baseball-softball for the games.

Sport climbing was one of eight shortlisted for inclusion, along with karate, roller sports, wakeboarding and the martial art wushu.

Today’s vote, by secret ballot, followed 30-minute presentations by each international federation and an evaluation by the Olympic Programme Commission to determine their potential for the Games.

The full IOC membership will meet in Buenos Aires in September to vote on which of the three sports to add to the Games’ programme in addition to the 25 core sports – plus golf and rugby sevens – proposed by the board in February.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said: “The executive board received excellent presentations today from eight International Federations.

“It was never going to be an easy decision but I feel my colleagues on the board made a good decision in selecting baseball-softball, squash and wrestling to be put forward in Buenos Aires.

“I wish the three shortlisted sports the best of luck in the run-up to the vote in September and would like to thank the other sports for their hard work and dedication.”

The British Mountaineering Council, along with three British Everest summiteers, Sir Chris Bonington, Kenton Cool and Alan Hinkes, had backed the sport-climbing bid.

Rob Adie, BMC competitions officer said: “The BMC is incredibly disappointed to hear that sport-climbing has not made the final three shortlist for the 2020 Olympic Games.

“This would have been a great opportunity for the sport worldwide but we’ll have to wait another four years before we can put our case forward again.

“The BMC would like to thank the IFSC for all the hard work they put into the bid and we feel that, despite the outcome, the sport as a whole has benefited from the widened media exposure especially for those on Team GB and the future is definitely bright for British and international competition climbing.”