Alex Johnson

Alex Johnson, who was an early peer on the U.S. Team, recalls the time Coleman won his "first" silver. And what made him stand out.

If you had asked any of us, fresh out of middle school and going to Nationals in dark, dusty old rock gyms, if climbing would ever join the Olympics, our answer would have been, “Not in our lifetimes.”

Alex Johnson first tried The Swarm at age 21 in 2011. In March of 2021, 10 years later, she came back, ready. We first published this essay on April 3, the day she turned 32, having given herself a birthday present.