Janja Garnbret defends her Olympic gold in sport climbing. American Brooke Raboutou wins a silver

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Janja Garnbret and Brooke Raboutou cried together in joy as they hugged after the boulder and lead sport climbing final at the Paris Games on Saturday.

Garnbret had just enhanced her status as one of the biggest stars in the sport by defending her Olympic title. Raboutou was celebrating the first ever climbing Olympic medal for the U.S. women’s team.

“We have an incredible friendship to where we both want each other to do our best, and that’s what happened today,” said Raboutou, who calls Garnbret her idol. “And that feels really good to share that with somebody, and to represent the sport in a way that we know we’re doing it right and we’re doing it for ourselves.”

Garnbret, the Slovenian who won the combined gold when sport climbing made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games three years ago, overcame Raboutou for the victory on the last climb of the day in Le Bourget to secure the gold.

“This was our wish,” Garnbret said. “This was our pact, stand on the Olympic podium together. So she went through a lot. And I’m so happy for her that she made it.”

Raboutou, who trained with Garnbret in Slovenia, said the silver was extra sp...