Aspar Jaelolo, The Big Dream of a Climber

Indonesian climber Aspar Jaelolo shows the mental steel of a climber. He was not defeated by the obstacles that came repeatedly, one of which was injured. That's because his big dream is to win Olympic gold in 2024.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Indonesian rock climbing athlete Aspar Jaelolo won the 12th series of the 2022 Rock Climbing World Cup in the men's speed category at SCBD Park, Jakarta, Saturday (24/9/2022).

Indonesia’s sport climbing ace, Aspar Jaelolo, 34, with his mental strength and plenty of guts, is capable of rising to the top. All his wins have stemmed from the big dream he continues to cherish, which is to win an Olympic gold before he retires as a professional athlete.

“Your athletes should look out, I’m back again,” Aspar jokingly said to his foreign peers, who were cheering after he won the speed climbing gold medal on Sunday (24/9/2022) during the 12th stage of the 2022 Sport Climbing World Cup at SCBD Park in Jakarta.

Aspar deserved to feel elated about his achievement. Since his last gold medal during the 13th stage of the 2018 Sport Climbing World Cup in Wujiang, China, Aspar was finally back on the highest podium four years later.

He even made a big splash in the Jakarta leg of the climbing World Cup. Aspar was not actually favored as a potential champion. On paper, he was inferior to his two juniors at the national training center: Kiromal Katibin, the world record holder with a time of 5.009 seconds, and Veddriq Leonardo, the 2021 World Cup champion and leader of this season’s class.

Also read:

> The Hard Life of a Limitation Survivor

> Climbing to the Top of the World

However, Aspar overturned all predictions. In the speed qualifications, he made it to third place in the second round with 5.241 seconds. In the final round, Aspar was faultless. He consistently showed his best performance with 5.39 seconds in the quarterfinals, 5.31 seconds in the semifinals and 5.39 seconds in the final.

Aspar made his surprise move in the ultimate round. Facing Kiromal, who was expected to win and improve on his world record, Aspar was able to overcome all pressures.

“I’m very happy with this achievement. I prepared for around two years to return to the highest World Cup podium. This is because two years ago, I was recovering from an injury,” Aspar said.

While training in September 2019 for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifier on a natural cliff in Harau Valley, West Sumatra, Aspar slipped and hung on to a rock crevice with his right middle finger. The accident ruptured the tendon in his finger.

He had to undergo tendon reconstruction surgery, followed by physical therapy to restore functional movement in his finger. The rehabilitation process took a fairly long time, taking time while draining his energy, spirit and mental strength.

I’m very happy with this achievement. I prepared for around two years to return to the highest World Cup podium.

At the time, Aspar thought of early retirement.

“I thought my career was over. Many people around me gave me motivation, including my family, fellow athletes and coach Hendra Basir. I began to revive my big dream of reaching the peak of victory by grabbing the Olympic gold medal in Paris in 2024 that was lost in Tokyo in 2020,” he revealed.

With the support of various parties and building on his big dream, Aspar recovered from his injury. Yet, he still had a tough path ahead. While the movement in his and his mental state had been restored, Aspar had yet to return to his level of physical fitness and performance before his injury.

It was a big challenge, and his coach allowed him to remain at the national training center, on the condition that he could climb with a time of 5 seconds within one year. Armed with strong determination, slowly but surely, Aspar responded to the challenge.

KOMPAS/ADRIAN FAJRIANSYAH

Aspar Jaelolo

Natural gift

Aspar was fortunate because he had natural mental strength. Born the only child to farmers Jaelolo Lantjogau and Gamar binti Barakaili, in the hills of Donggala, the young Aspar was raised close to nature.

“My mother said that as a child, I was fond of climbing trees,” he recalled.

Aspar’s natural instincts brought him in 2007 to the Kumtapala nature-lover student community of the Tadulako University law school in Palu, Central Sulawesi. Aspar was active, agile and fearless in the wild, which prompted his lecturer Jamaluddin Badong, who was also his senior at Kumtapala, to nickname him “Baboon” when he joined the community’s basic training course.

Jamaluddin also suggested that Aspar train in sport climbing, which was originally done on the natural cliffs of Central Sulawesi. Although a bit late in learning to rock climbing, with his big talent, Aspar was able to master the sport, and he went on to win seven local competitions in Central Sulawesi.

Also read:

> A Long Road to Olympic Gold

> Agus Prayogo, King of Long-Distance Running

One of his strategies in taking part in a contest is to surmount all pressures. Among his personal tricks is to dye his hair in unusual colors. For the Jakarta leg of the World Cup, Aspar dyed his hair red and white, the national colors.

“At first, I used to dye my hair blond, inspired by the hair of Chris Sharma,” said Aspar, referring to the legendary United States rock climber. “With a different hair color, people’s attention will certainly be drawn to us. So, we inevitably have to be ready for the attention,” he added.

Aspar became more serious about sport climbing after he joined the 2009 Student Sport Week in Palembang, South Sumatra. Aspar was amazed by the abilities of climbers from other regions. He placed only fourth during the event. On returning from Palembang, he headed to Jakarta.

He decided to go to Jakarta to significantly improve his abilities. In 2014, Aspar he earned his first top achievement on the international stage by emerging as the champion of the World Extreme Games Shanghai 2014 in China.

At the national level, he achieved his first best score in 2015, when he won the Pre-National Sports Festival (PON) 2016 in Bandung, West Java. He took his parents to the event to watch his performance.

For him, his parents are the people whose great support lifted him to where he is today.

Aspar Jaelolo

Born: Wani, Donggala, 24 Jan. 1988

Wife: Muzi Mulyani, 22

Child: One

Achievements include:

- 2 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals, Sport Climbing World Cup (2017-2022)

- 1 silver medal, International Sport Climbing series 2018

- 1 silver & 1 bronze medal, Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang 2018

- 1 bronze medal, IFSC-ACC Asian Championships 2018

- 3 gold & 1 silver medals, PON West Java 2016

- 2 bronze medals, PON Papua 2021

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.