Weird2 min(s) read
In another bid to stand up for women in sports, a champion diver learned the hard way why a water slide had a strict “men-only” policy.
Professional springboard diver Rhiannan Iffland has based her entire career around encouraging other women and girls to not let their gender stand in the way of their dreams. The young Australian has won seven consecutive Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series titles, earning her place as a great role model for girls in sport.
However, Rhiannan’s mantra was put to the test earlier this month, when she visited the popular water park Area 47 during a holiday to Austria. The resort is infamous for housing a slide that women are not allowed to go down.
In her typical brave manner, the champion diver decided to ignore the seemingly sexist sign.
Rhiannan filmed the entire ride for social media, with the hope of inspiring other women and girls to do things they might be scared of or discouraged from.
Seconds into the slide, a blood-curdling scream could be heard coming from the slide that boasts of going at 50 mph.
As it happens, over the last few years, there have been a number of terrifying reports of women having their insides “ripped apart”.
Chillingly, the US National Library of Medicine explains that women can sustain horrific injuries if high-pressure water enters their body, while there is also a risk of infections due to the foreign bodies found in the water.
Champion diver Rhiannan, like most of us, did not realize the gravity of the risks posed by water slides to women, having only seen restrictions based on weight and height.
She later told news.com.au that she saw no reason that the slide would be dangerous aside from the 50mph speed it goes out, but she knew that she’d seriously messed up as soon as she sat on it.
Rhiannan said: "It was never my intent to mock the safety regulations of this water slide.
"A person’s safety is paramount, and I am constantly weighing up any danger with my job. To suggest otherwise is wrong."
Although the slide certainly was not as enjoyable as it would have been for her male friends, Rhiannan was very lighthearted about the whole thing on social media.
She captioned one post: "Here for a good time not a long time! Another YOLO moment.”
