Aniya Holder

Early life Holder was born on 3 August 2001 Holder was homeschooled and tried both dancing and karate before picking up climbing at age 14. She began climbing at a small wall at Rhodes University and started joining the university's club on outdoor climbing trips at 16. She began speed climbing in October 2022 and took a liking to it, despite the poor facilities available to her — the international standard route is 15 meters, but the gym in Gqeberha only has a 6-meter wall, which must be changed every 1–3 months to resemble each third of the official route.

Holder is the only woman representing an African nation in the speed climbing event at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. She is joined on Team South Africa by fellow speed climber Joshua Bruyns as well as boulder-and-lead combined climbers Lauren Mukheibir and Mel Janse van Rensburg. In the qualification seeding rounds of the Paris Olympics, held in Le Bourget, Holder achieved a new personal best time of 9.12 seconds and received the 14th seed for the elimination rounds. Holder exited the competition later that same day, posting a 9.36–second run in a round where she was eliminated by Aleksandra Mirosław, the event's current world record holder.

Personal life As of 2024, Holder lives in Gqeberha and works full-time as a route-setter and coach at the local climbing gym. She is also a visual artist. Holder's father Stephen, a former director of music at Kingswood College, died in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Stephen never got to see Aniya compete or climb outdoors, so she painted a portrait of him on her chalk bag in remembrance.

Major results Olympic Games Discipline 2024 Speed 14

World Cup Discipline 2024 Speed 57

African championships Discipline 2021 Boulder 3 Lead 3