Rachel didn't breeze through fifteen consecutive victories. Her rivals out-paced her a number of times in timed training and qualification rounds. Tahnee Seagrave, Myriam Nicole, Tracey Hannah, and Manon Carpenter all took some heat out of Rachel in quali's this season, with Seagrave only 0.7 seconds shy of the win in Lenzerheide. She had her own daemons to fight as well - back and shoulder injuries would plague her all season - but in every case, Atherton managed to assemble and execute a victorious final round.
The pressure of carrying the number-one plate and the media's expectation of victory would be burden enough to crush most athletes, or at the least, cloud their judgement and dilute their focus enough to blunt their competitive edge.
"I lost all respect for this undefeated world champion Athlete because she asked to be considered on her own terms and recognized for her hard work."
You can't handle her speaking out, but she's the baby right?
I think it is such a shame she felt the need to attack Claudio when he was giving her major props.
He did not draw attention to her gender, she was the one who started talking bs about gender.
Claudio and Rob always talked about how Ratboy benefited from Peaty, why can't they say the same about Rach and her brothers.
She was looking to be offended so she could complain about a problem that doesn't exist in this sport.
I don't fault Rachel for getting upset, though. I don't think she was looking for a reason to be upset or focusing directly on Claudio, rather she was tired of hearing people say the same thing over and over again, Claudio was probably just the straw that broke the camel's back. Judging by what I've heard/read/seen from other women, both in riding and in other areas, they receive a lot of subtle (and not so subtle) sexism, regardless of how high they climb on their own. Her comments and response to Claudio were likely due to her hearing the same thing over and over again privately, then seeing a public figure make the same comment. You never know what she, or the other women riders, experience privately and every day.
If you really think a comparison between Ratboy and Peaty is equivalent, then I think you're incredibly oblivious. Try to empathize with a viewpoint that isn't your own before trying to mansplain sexism. I doubt Rachel cares what you think about her accomplishments on a personal level, but I think this sport will be a lot better off if a lot of us evolve out of the stone ages.
Rachel dominates as she is overall the best rider in the field and that obviously comes with huge dedication towards the sport but it does not avoid the truth that it would be much more difficult for a rider to do this in the current mens category.
Anyway, lets hope Rachel goes into 2017 with a female field that is a little closer to her, I can see Tahnee getting there soon & well done to Rachel.
There is more chance of an average female rider getting industry help than a male rider by an absolute mile, the quality of riding must be much, much higher for a man (I understand this has to do with ability for the rider to provide product exposure but it is still the truth)
I would give examples of many female riders in this position but I don't feel that would be in good taste.
Congrats to Rachel. She would have been my pick as well.
So I'm not saying necessarily riding with her brothers has contributed to her great results. But I do think that especially in her early years when support for female riders was much lower than for males, being on a team with her brothers gave her access to funds, equipment, logistics etc that she otherwise wouldn't have had. Yes she could possibly get a better deal than her brothers now that she's racked up so many great results and now that female racers are getting more support and attention, but it must have been good for her to have gotten such great support right from the start.
I don't get the stick the Athertons are getting. If they're injured or still carrying injuries, they don't perform too well indeed. If they're fit, they're doing amazing. Rachel has suffered quite some injuries in the past that kept her from the top step. Luckily she's good now. Gee and Dan have both suffered some injuries this year (and Gee still managed to come down Ft Bill incredibly quick) but that doesn't mean that they're bad riders. Gee is a class act for insisting on taking his siblings along when shopping negotiating deals back in the day. And Gee is a class act for stepping down at the Worlds to allow Kerr to compete (and do incredibly well).
IMO, we are developing a culture where everyone wants to be offended and everyone wants a gold f*cking star and credit for everything they've done, and anything that *might* be able to be remotely taken in a way that doesn't showcase that is "offensive". I think that is what @paulmurphy1989 is irked over. No need to attack someone for a factual observation that made you uncomfortable. Also, how many girls have brothers who are in the league of Gee and Dan? Tracey Hannah comes to mind, and I'm not up on all my bike racer celebrities, but if you think about it, it's a worthy observation when your brothers are top level athletes, but maybe not so much if you're a rider who has surpassed your brothers. In many ways, it would actually be offensive to be like "oh so and so is riding great, you know, she must learn a lot from her older brother who won a national round this one time 5 years ago".
If Rachel was a junior or even just another male rider, they could say the same thing and it would be entirely appropriate.
There is nothing stone age about what was said or anyone's reaction in these comments. I'm not agreeing with people being mean, but comments like yours are also not helpful in the sense that you're playing the "well if you disagree it must be because you're some backwards individual clouded by "stone age" prejudice"
You can feel insulted whenever you want. Just know that man or woman, whatever color you are, whatever your sexuality, you are still subject to the opinions of others, who may find you are being unreasonable. That doesn't make them prejudice people simply because they don't share your exact experience.
Aside from all this BS, I certainly think Rachel deserves this award. I have looked up to her for a long time. I admire her ability to push herself so hard and be so dominant, when she could probably keep winning and not do as much. I have always envied people who have the drive to go 120 when everyone else is going 100. It's a struggle for me to do that, and I never really succeed. Rachel is the one rider that I have seen doing that for years. Her and Nico Vouilloz get so much of my respect and personal admiration.
His run rolls around. Not a f*cking word about Rachel.
Also, quite often when Gee is racing hard tracks they talk about the benefit of having Dan as a sibling due to his mad building skills.
In no way did I slate Rachels achievements either, you are barking up the wrong tree.
As Travis from Trek said it's very easy to write her off as being 'dominant' but to maintain her level all season against competition that are all there to win, (lets face it no one goes racing to come second) underlines Rachel's amazing achievements in 2016.
You only have to look at what the pressure of bringing home one World Championship in F1 did to Nico Rosberg physically and mentally. It underlines the mental strength you need to stay on top year after year at this level of any sport. Then to put together the perfect season is a dream for any athlete. In a sport with so many variables like Downhill many would have thought it impossible until Rachel did it this year.
It's also great to see Rachel get the recognition she deserves for her work to develop Women's Downhill Racing. From sponsoring the Junior Women's Category at the British Downhill Series to working with the riders at Red Bulls Fox Hunt she's a fantastic advocate for Women's Mountain Biking and a real role model for all riders coming into Mountain Biking and looking at riding Downhill.
Well, maybe Rach next season!
I miss the days when Redbull would show the top 20 women but as it stands when you have one girl who 90% of the time separates herself by a huge margin.... Yeah I can see the top 20 not really being worth it to them so the top 10 is all we get.
She knows she is going to go down as the best Female DH racer of all time and one of the best DH riders in general. So why not get out there and dominate another type of racing?
Be nice if y'all stop pussin' around the obvious ya pussy cvnt bitches.
Just have her race the men and see how "equal" everything is.
But, hey, If you feel better about yourself and you get approval from the rest of the ball-less,right?
Join Pinkbike Login