Why women are 'banned' from extreme slide after champion diver ignored warning and immediately regretted it
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@rhiannan_iffland
Professional diver Rhiannan Iffland isn't used to being told she can't do something. In fact, the Australian springboard diver - a proud seven-time consecutive Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series champion - has made a living from telling other women and girls not to let anyone or anything stand in the way of their ambition.
Such was Rhiannan's mindset earlier this month when - during a holiday to Austria - she visited popular water park Area 47 which houses a slide that women are barred from going down.
The dare-devil sportswoman decided to take a chance on the terrifying attraction, hoping to get to the bottom of the why the seemingly sexist restriction had been put into place.
It was then that she learned the stomach-wrenching truth behind the matter...
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It turns out that, in recent years, there have been reports of women having their insides 'ripped apart' by high-speed water slides.
According to the National Library of Medicine in the US, 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.
But for Rhiannan, she'd previously come across water slide restrictions centring on weight and height, believing that the restriction on women alone was rather inconspicuous.
She later told press that nothing about this particular slide seemed especially dangerous, apart from the fact that it boasts speeds of up to 50 mph.
So - initially hoping to inspire others not to be told 'no' - Rhiannan filmed the entire ride so she could later upload it to social media.
Seconds into her flight, she was made to immediately regret her decision and in the video, could be heard letting out a chilling scream.
Upon clambering off the slide, she later told press that she immediately knew she'd f****d up.
"It was never my intent to mock the safety regulations of this water slide," she insisted in conversation with 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."
Despite her admission, when sharing the clip to social media, Rhiannan seemed to have remained lighthearted about the whole ordeal.
"Here for a good time not a long time!" she penned in the caption. "Another YOLO moment."
And while many viewers seemingly found the content comical, others took to the comments to share their own water park horror stories.
One in particular admitted: "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."