Johanna Farber apologizes to rock climbing chiefs for close-up camera shot of her bum
Images of the 23-year-old’s posterior were televised to thousands of people in her native Austria by national broadcaster ORF in September.
The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) issued a statement of apology to Farber and anyone else offended by the incident.
It read: “The IFSC would like to deeply apologise to Johanna Färber, Austria Climbing, all the athletes, and the entire Sport Climbing community for the images that were broadcast today during the women’s Boulder semi-final at the IFSC Climbing World Championships Moscow 2021.”
IFSC President Marco Scolaris has also hit out at broadcasters for their actions.
As quoted by the Daily Mail, he said: “How many times will things have to be done wrong, before we learn how to do them right?”
It is the second time ORF have zoomed in on Farber’s bum, with the first incident taking place during the World Cup in Innsbruck in June.
ORF apologised at the time, writing: “We acknowledge that, for a brief moment, we chose to display the sport of climbing in the wrong way.
“We commit ourselves to keep working for a fair, equal and better representation of women’s sports.”
Farber received a torrent of messages after the first footage was shown in June and accused the broadcasters of sexualising women’s sport.
She wrote on Instagram: “Honestly wtf? Having this slow-motion clip shown on NATIONAL TV and YouTube livestream is so disrespectful and upsetting.
“I’m an athlete and here to show my best performance. To be honest I do really feel so embarrassed to know that thousands of people saw this.
“We need to stop sexualising women in sports and start to appreciate their performance.”
