Originally Posted by
canklecat
Many cyclists have backgrounds in sports that involve heavy use of legs and aerobic fitness. Remco Evenepoel came from a soccer background. As others mentioned, there have been speed skaters, downhill skiers and ski jumpers.
And in general many professional athletes who are best known for one particular sport didn't start out in that sport that made them famous or wealthy. Often it was a second or third choice, but offered better opportunities, or they were simply better at a sport that wasn't their favorite. Roy Jones Jr, one of the quickest, most gifted and unconventional boxers in history, preferred basketball, but wasn't tall enough to go pro.
BTW, that article in the OP dances over Bradley Wiggins' attempt to reboot a sports career in rowing, claiming he abandoned the attempt because of "other commitments."
Nah. Watch his attempt on YouTube. He was out of his element in the rowing trials. While he was big for a cyclist, he wasn't big and strong enough, with a background in upper body athleticism, to cut it in rowing. He looked flabby and uncoordinated compared with the real contenders in rowing.
The writer might be a friend of Wiggo, or afraid of Wiggins' notorious social media snark. Wiggins tends to burn a lot of bridges and friends with his reckless comments, then backtracking with left-handed compliments to try to make it right.
There is nothing substantive about the article at all, which is rather just a puff piece for British national sport programs. British Cycling and British Rowing are two of the best organized bodies in those sports in the world, and they are rightfully proud. 6 athletes, however, out of the 10s— if not 100s— of thousands of elite British cyclists does not come anywhere near supporting a causal relationship between a rowing background and cycling success. I’m absolutely certain a far greater number of elite cyclists have asthma, but I doubt anyone would anyone argue it’s the reason for their success.