(CNN) Kim Ja-in was born to climb.

Her parents met and fell in love in the mountains. Her mother climbed, her father climbed, both her older brothers climbed, all before she first chalked up her hands. It was, she explained, only natural that she would join them. But while she was the last to start, Kim outclimbed her family a long time ago -- in fact, few others can claim to have scaled the same heights.

Kim, 30, is a superstar of the sport climbing world. A previous world champion, she has clinched a heap of world cup titles and Asian championships since entering competitive climbing in 2004. Now she faces a new challenge: the Olympics.

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At Tokyo 2020 , sport climbing makes its debut. The competition will be run across the three disciplines of bouldering, lead and speed climbing, each with their own techniques and format.

Bouldering involves navigating as many fixed routes as possible in four minutes on a wall four meters high with no safety ropes. Lead climbing requires athletes climb as high as possible on a 15-meter plus wall in six minutes using safety ropes, without reclimbs. Speed climbing has two climbers ascend a parallel route at the same time on a 15-meter wall set at 95 degrees -- sometimes doing so in under 8 seconds. Combined results will determine medalists.

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