But the analogy to alpine skiing also sprung to my mind when I saw Stasas story. Especially in downhill and super g most top athletes come from a small selection of national teams that have the size and funds to organize trainings in racing conditions. Certainly in bouldering the effort for training under comp conditions is not likewise, but still you require top setters that permanently provide problems with the newest selection of holds for not being disadvantaged. And I imagine as the sport matures (and hence the difference between athletes becomes smaller), this may be even more important.
It's always going to be tough(er) if, like Stasa, you're the only world class athlete from your country. She certainly seems to spend a lot of time travelling to train - I get the impression she hangs out with the Slovenians quite a bit, and I regularly see her at climbing walls here in Munich. Which is not as strenuous or expensive as a skier spending the
northern hemisphere summer in Chile, but sill much harder than having world class training facilities near the comfort of you own home, which I'm guessing she probably doesn't have anywhere in Serbia.
(Retro-edit to please SA Chris)
