- Rhiannon Iffland went down a waterslide women are banned from using
- Iffland, 32, is a seven-time cliff diving world champion
- But there is a medical reason why women should not go down fast slides
Europe’s fastest waterslide has banned women from using it, but that hasn’t stopped Australian diving champion Rhiannon Iffland.
Iffland, 32, visited Austria’s popular Area 47 adventure park, which boasts a number of ‘extreme’ activities ranging from bungy jumping to canyoning and white-water rapids.
The park also features Europe’s ‘fastest waterslide’, which sends people rocketing down at 80km/h.
The slide comes with a sign warning women against using it, with reports of women being ‘ripped apart’ by high-speed water slides in recent years.
According to the National Library of Medicine in the United States, high pressured water entering a female body can cause horrific injuries, and could lead to infections due to foreign bodies found in the water.
But Iffland appeared to take little notice of a sign at the top of the slide which depicted a picture of a woman with a red line through it, indicating the female-only ban.
Posting a video of herself going down the slide, she said: ‘Apparently women are not supposed to do this slide.’
Iffland, a seven-time consecutive Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series champion hurled herself down in a blue swimsuit from Budgy Smugglers, her sponsor.
‘Here for a good time not a long time! Another YOLO moment,’ she added.
The video sparked concern among some of her followers, but Iffland said she carefully weighed up the risks of going down the slide beforehand.
‘It was never my intent to mock the safety regulations of this water slide,’ she told news.com.au.
‘A person’s safety is paramount and I am constantly weighing up any danger with my job. To suggest otherwise, is wrong.’
Instagram users were divided over the women-only ban, with some acknowledging the medical reason while others claimed it was sexist.
‘The sign says ‘due to high risk of injury’,’ one user posted. ‘Why would you still go down?’
Another said: ‘The amount of people that don’t understand why women aren’t supposed to go on this slide is scary.’
Other social media users added that high-speed water slides carries the risk of ‘enemas’ for men and women, not just gynaecological issues for women.
‘Unfortunately I got a water slide enema. Peed out half the swimming pool in the toilet from my behind. I literally couldn’t stand upright after it happened. Weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced,’ one user said in a very open message.
Another added: ‘OMG I had no idea it had a name. Water slide enema, this perfectly describes what happened to me.’
A third commenter said: ‘I got the worst enema on that slide bahhaha you are brave girl’.