The other troons-in-sport sideshow at the Olympics this year, by the by, is American freestyle BMX rider Chelsea Wolfe, who was recently selected as an alternate for the US team and popped a headline by declaring that she hopes to burn the American flag on the podium. Real sweetheart this one.
Fuck it, I'll effort post.
Wolfe, in case you couldn't guess from the teeth, is pure-D Florida white trash. Wouldn't be shocked if she has genes in common with Zinnia Jones.
Women's freestyle BMX is a very young sport, relatively speaking. There's been sponsorship and competition support behind guys riding ramps since the 80s, whereas we've only seen the same for women within the past decade. As a result, there is a massive gap in the level of performance between the men and the women. This isn't a knock on the women. It's just that aside from the difference in raw physical ability, even the best women riders haven't been progressing for nearly as long.
Here's a couple videos for context. Don't worry, they're short and they're fun. First, here's
the winning run from the men's freestyle final at the UCI worlds this year, by Logan Martin of Australia. 1080, triple tailwhip, bike flip, that ludicrous 360 tailwhip the opposite way across the transition.
Now
here's the women's winning run, from Hannah Forest of the USA, who is also the favorite for gold at the Olympics. Backflip, single tailwhip, flair are the big tricks. For context, those were big tricks in men's competition 25 to 30 years ago. Mat Hoffman landed the first flair in 1990.
While her runs are not on YouTube (maybe if I dug through the entire two-hour video of the comp, but I can't be arsed) Chelsea Wolfe placed fifth in that same competition. In other words, compared to real male pro riders, she SUCKS. Hopelessly sucks.
Without trooning out she'd be some goof at the skatepark who got the occasional Instagram like. Instead, she has a pro team sponsorship from GT Bicycles and a ride to the Olympics, advantages that would mean the world to a young woman struggling to help women's BMX progress. Such is life in clown world.