For a country built on metaphors of ascent, not sending a climber to the Olympics feels like an oversight.

Climbing, of course, is new to the Olympic Games — it has been included twice so far — so the talent base is still small. Enter Ayala Kerem, who has a great chance of being the first to represent Israel.

Kerem is not currently a household name, but she is the poster child of Israeli climbing. The 24-year-old narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics and is now hellbent on doing everything she can to book her spot on the upcoming Olympic team, which will head to Los Angeles in 2028.

“I’m hoping to be there,” she told The Times of Israel with an understated confidence.

This is a confidence shared by Amour Paz, CEO of Israel Climbing.

Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories

By signing up, you agree to the terms

“Ayala never stops improving in order to stay at the top and earn her place at the Olympic Games, and I truly believe she deserves it — and I deeply believe she will make it to Los Angeles,” Paz said.


Israeli climber Ayala Kerem. (Vladek Zumer)

Kerem quickly established herself on the climbing scene as a precocious and prodigious talent. Unfortunately, fear of failure spiraled into a self-fulfilling prophecy during the Paris qualifiers in late spring 2024, and Kerem did not place among the top 10 women climbers to earn an Olympic berth. Dreams smashed, she needed time away to pick up the pieces.

“I learned so many lessons from that experience, especially about myself. I took a break from the sport, but then after a while, all I wanted to do was climb. I missed it,” she said.

Asked which lesson stuck with her the most, Kerem said that she “can’t be going through the motions. Every training session, every gym session, everything has to have meaning and purpose.”

Kerem harnessed her early memories to reconnect with why she got into the sport in the first place, and realized that climbing is at her essence; winning the medals is just a nice bonus.


Ayala Kerem, right, receives her bronze medal at the World Climbing Europe Series event in Kaunas, Lithuania, April 28, 2026. (Courtesy of Israel Climbing)

Ironically, with this relaxed state of mind, her results improved, and the medals came. Mere weeks after the Paris Olympics came to an end, Kerem became the first Israeli to medal at the European Championships, where she came in second. And on April 28, she came in third at the World Climbing Europe Series in Kaunas, Lithuania.

“I was back to climbing for the sake of climbing. Excited and motivated to perform, not because I had to, but because I wanted to,” she said.

Precocious beginnings

Kerem first got into the sport at the tender age of 5 — or 4 1/2, depending on how one counts. Six months shy of her fifth birthday, Kerem accompanied her father, Stevie Kerem, to a climbing center.

“You had to be 5 in order to climb,” Stevie told The Times of Israel.

Six months later, the world had moved on — but not Kerem. On her birthday, she approached her father.

“She asked me when I was taking her climbing,” he said.

Since then, Kerem has seen national titles, international finals, and incremental breakthroughs. She became the first Israeli woman to reach a Boulder World Cup final in 2022.

Distinct from the city in Colorado, bouldering is one of three climbing disciplines — alongside speed and lead — each demanding a different blend of power, endurance, and calculation. Bouldering, with its shifting problems and absence of ropes, is particularly cerebral.


Israeli climber Ayala Kerem in competition in this undated photo. (Vladek Zumer)

Like a Sudoku puzzle, the boulder course is different every time, and so the physical challenge is inseparable from the intellectual one — progress depends as much on perception as on strength.

Competitions can feel like a game show — athletes briefly study the route, disappear into isolation where they cannot see how their colleagues fare, and then re-emerge to attempt something they have never physically practiced.

“I love the combination of physical strategy and problem-solving,” Kerem says.

This is evident when watching her in her element and witnessing her ability to think while hanging by her fingertips.

At the Los Angeles Games, for the first time, boulder will be its own event, which should considerably improve Kerem’s chances to qualify.

24-year-old elder statesman

Israel is assembling a good team of climbers, but in what feels like the blink of an eye, Kerem has gone from the 15-year-old rookie to the elder statesman of the team.

Kerem is not phased by this, and she feeds off the energy brought by her younger teammates.


Israel’s Ayala Kerem reacts after competing in the women’s finals during the climbing World Cup on May 29, 2022, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

“I learn so much from them, and it’s exciting to have such a strong team,” she said.

You could make a case that Kerem’s exploits inspired them to join the team, an influence that was unavailable to her when she got into the sport on the ground floor.

“Sometimes people don’t fully understand how difficult it is to be the first to do something,” Paz said. “When young climbers see Ayala breaking records and reaching places no Israeli female climber has ever gone before, it shows them that it’s possible. But Ayala herself didn’t have anyone before her to prove that these things were possible. She had to believe in herself on such a deep level.”

With more facilities springing up around the country and the sport becoming normalized, climbing in Israel is growing at a rate of knots. Israeli Olympic Committee president Yael Arad knows it will go to the next level if Israel sends climbers to the Olympics.

“Climbing is popular in Israel due to Ninja, and there is good capacity for scalability, so we are very optimistic of the impact. We’ve seen the impact Olympic exposure has had on archery and triathlon, and if we have climbers, it should inspire Israeli kids to start their journey.”

Paz agrees with this but knows it is not going to be easy.

“I believe that once Ayala qualifies for Los Angeles, it will allow many young climbers in Israel — both girls and boys — to dream big and truly believe that they are capable as well. It would have a huge impact on climbing in Israel. Qualifying for the Olympics in climbing is a phenomenal achievement — and that’s exactly why it hasn’t happened yet for Israel. But I truly believe in Ayala, as well as in other Israeli climbers.”

The hope is that Israel will send at least two climbers to the Los Angeles Olympics. If this happens, it will inspire all those kids around the country to consider a sport they may not have previously thought of, especially those who are currently at home climbing the walls.

As for Ayala, if she makes it to Los Angeles, it will all seem inevitable. That is how history rewrites itself in a linear way. Until then, nothing is for certain, especially in these times. In the end, it isn’t really about Israel, or the Olympics, or even the idea of being first. It’s about whether she sticks the next hold.