Akiyo Noguchi

Akiyo Noguchi is a Japanese professional rock climber, born on 30 May 1989, who built her reputation in competition bouldering while also climbing outdoors on boulders and sport routes. She grew up on a cattle farm in Ibaraki Prefecture, first tried a real climbing wall at age eleven on a holiday in Guam, and trained on a wall her father built in an old cattle barn. She won the IFSC Climbing World Cup in bouldering four times and took the Bouldering Japan Cup nine years in a row, from 2005 to 2014. She retired from competition after winning the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the first Games to include sport climbing, and later published an autobiography.