新寫稿
( 2003-09-25 09:03)
Women living on the sports
edge
Tracey Moseley was always a bit of a tomboy. Growing up on a farm, she
and her brother spent hours messing around on their bikes in England抯
Worcestershire countryside.
Now though, those hours have paid off as the
24-year-old has become the world抯 No 3 female downhill mountain bike racer, and
spends her time careering down slopes at high speed, jumping over rocks and
cycling through mud.
Moseley抯 phenomenal achievement is not just about
exploring physical limits. She is one of Britain抯 new breed of female daredevils
who have entered the male-dominated world of extreme sports and, against the
odds, are conquering it.
Having encroached on traditionally male territory,
such women are proving the equal of men ?and are reaping lucrative rewards.
In the macho worlds of sky-diving, snowboarding and underwater free-diving,
women are finally making their mark.
揟he culture was that women should not
be doing this kind of sport,?says Moseley. 揃ut now a lot of girls I know can
ride better than most men. The tracks we race on are the same and the prize
money is the same. I can make a living through sponsorship and racing.?Moseley
is not alone. Britain has extreme sportswomen performing at the highest levels
around the globe. On September 13, the UK women抯 sky-diving team won a gold
medal in the World Championships and this year Lesley McKenna, a top British
snowboarder, came first in a World Cup competition.
The number of women-only
competitions in all these sports is soaring, and with success comes commercial
potential. Britain抯 extreme sportswomen are about to become big
business.
Born to a British mother, Tanya Streeter was brought up in the
Caribbean. She first went into the water when she was six weeks old. In 1997,
she went to her first free-diving clinic, a sport where the diver takes a deep
breath then descends deep into the sea. Three months later, she broke an
American championship record, and soon went on to break the women抯 world record.
Men were shocked.
揟hey thought I was a joke,?she says. 揑t took three years
competing before they accepted I could do it.?By then she had broken three world
records, wiping away the men抯 achievements.
Sharing her sense of adventure
is Lucy Adams, 19, Britain抯 number one skateboarder. She is sponsored by Nikita,
a clothing company in Iceland that caters for 揼irls who ride.?She laughs at
suggestions that she was on the path to becoming a multi-millionaire: 揑 don抰
understand where they got that from.?But in America, men at the top of the
skateboarding scene earn fortunes. Such opportunities may soon be available to
women as more sports brands come to sponsor women athletes in order to promote
the sales of women-specific goods.
The Guardian
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