Editing Chris Sharma (section)

===1996–2002 (to ''Realization'')===
From the outset, Sharma was considered a [[child prodigy|prodigy]] in the climbing world.<ref name=LAT/><ref>{{cite web |magazine=[[Rock & Ice]] | url=https://www.rockandice.com/videos/climbing/the-secret-climb-of-chris-sharma-and-stefan-glowacz-2/ | title=The Secret Climb of Chris Sharma and Stefan Glowacz | date=15 April 2021 | quote=... has teamed up with Chris Sharma, the California prodigy turned sport-climbing and bouldering visionary}}</ref><ref name="interview2013"/>  At age 14, he won the adult 1996 US Open Bouldering Nationals,<ref name=CL10/> and a year later aged 15, he freed [[Boone Speed]]'s project ''Necessary Evil'' {{Climbing grade|5.14c}} in the [[Virgin River Gorge]],<ref name="interview2013"/> the hardest [[sport climbing|sport climb]] in North America at the time.<ref name=CL10/><ref name=UKC1>{{cite web| url=http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=4894| title=Exclusive Interview: Chris Sharma Talks 9b+| first=Jack| last=Geldard| date=August 2012| publisher=UKClimbing| access-date=September 25, 2017 | quote=Chris Sharma, the 31 year old American sport climber, is perhaps the most famous rock climber in the world.}}</ref> The following year, Sharma won silver at the biennial [[1997 UIAA Climbing World Championships|UIAA World Championships]] at [[Paris]],<ref name=PM7/> and gold at the [[Kranj]] leg of the [[IFSC Climbing World Cup|UIAA World Cup]], both for [[lead climbing]].<ref name=KJ/>  Still 16, he suffered a serious knee injury that sidelined him for over a year.{{efn|In various interviews, Sharma describes that this period had a profound effect on his outlook on life and climbing and that he spent time reading into [[Zen|Buddhism]] and meditation techniques, noting that "You learn to be patient, sit tight, and not add more mental strife to an already difficult situation".<ref name=CL5/><ref name=RI5/><ref name=CL50/>}}<ref name=CL5/> Aged 18, Sharma moved to [[Bishop, California]], and began a US [[bouldering]] revolution with his 1999 film ''Rampage'',<ref name=OUT5>{{cite magazine | magazine=[[Outside (magazine)|Outside]] | url=https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/books-media/best-climbing-mountaineering-films-of-all-time/ | first=Andrew | last=Bisharat | date=6 September 2022 | accessdate=18 October 2022 | title=The 20 Best Climbing Films of All Time|quote=Number 18. Rampage (1999)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | website=[[Climbing (magazine)|Climbing]] | url=https://www.climbing.com/videos/rampage-full-film-with-chris-sharma/ | title=Rampage: Full Film With Chris Sharma | date=2 April 2020 | accessdate=20 June 2022}}</ref> and in February 2000, completed the first ascent of ''[[The Mandala]]'', a world-famous boulder problem.<ref name=CL10/><ref name=CH/>

On 18 July 2001, aged 20, Sharma completed the extension of the {{climbing grade|8c+}} route ''Biographie'' in [[Ceüse]] in [[France]], and named it ''[[Realization (climb)|Realization]]''; the route was the first consensus {{climbing grade|9a+}} in the world,{{efn|name=OA|It is possible that it was not the actual first-ever 9a+ route to be climbed, as in 2008 Czech climber [[Adam Ondra]] estimated that [[Alexander Huber]]'s 1996 ascent of ''Open Air'' was at {{Climbing grade|9a+}}.<ref name=GR7>{{cite web | url=https://gripped.com/news/chris-sharma-turns-40-today-happy-birthday/ | date=23 April 2021 | accessdate=22 December 2021 | title=Chris Sharma Turns 40 Today, Happy Birthday! | website=Gripped.com}}</ref><ref name=CM>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.climbing.com/news/groundbreaking-515-gets-second-ascent/ | title=Groundbreaking 5.15 Gets Second Ascent | first=Dougald | last=McDonald | date=15 June 2012 | accessdate=22 December 2021 | magazine= [[Outside (magazine)|Outside]]}}</ref> Climbing author Andrew Bisharat notes in a 2016 essay on climbing re-grades, that "The other interesting point about Open Air that’s worth mentioning is that the route reportedly contains some rather flaky holds that have broken off over the years. So was the Open Air that Ondra climbed the exact same route that Alex Huber climbed? Maybe, but probably not."<ref>{{cite web | website=EveningSends | first=Andrew | last=Bisharat | url=https://eveningsends.com/setting-and-revising-the-record-in-climbing/ | date=4 April 2016 | title=Setting and Revising the Record in Climbing
| accessdate=21 June 2022}}</ref>}} and has since become an important route in the history of [[sport climbing]], with ''Climbing'' magazine noting that "technical rock climbing jumped in its evolution".<ref name=CL10/><ref name=CL5/> It was the first confirmed increase in grades since [[Wolfgang Gullich]]'s ascent of ''[[Action Directe (climb)|Action Directe]]'' {{climbing grade|9a}}, a decade earlier.<ref name=NG/><ref name=GJK>{{cite web | magazine=GearJunkie | url=https://gearjunkie.com/climbing/hardest-climbing-grade-controversy-explained | title=Climbing Controversy: Behind the Decades-Long Conflict Roiling the Sport's Elite | date=9 March 2022 | accessdate=22 June 2022 | first=Sam | last=Anderson}}</ref>  Sharma's ascent of the route was captured in [[Big UP Productions|Josh Lowell]]'s 2002 film, ''Dosage Volume 1''.<ref name=OUT4>{{cite magazine | accessdate=22 December 2021 | magazine= [[Outside (magazine)|Outside]] | url=https://www.climbing.com/news/jonathan-siegrist-sends-biographie-5-15a-aka-realization/ | date=3 June 2014 | title=Jonathan Siegrist Sends Biographie (5.15a) AKA Realization}}</ref>  Days later, Sharma won the Munich leg of the [[IFSC World Cup]] in [[bouldering]], only to be disqualified on testing positive for marijuana.<ref name=LAT/><ref name=PM11>{{cite web | website=PlanetMountain | url=https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/competitions/bouldering-world-cup-2001-munich-the-results.html | title=Bouldering World Cup 2001, Munich, the results | date=25 July 2011 | accessdate=18 June 2022}}</ref>