Not Small Men: The Lack, the Need and the Implementation of Female Input in Sport Engineering, with an Emphasis on the Cycling Industry
Keywords:
women in cycling, Sports EngineeringAbstract
‘If Manny is for a male mannequin, then is there a Wo-Manny for females?’ A rather whimsical, yet relatively insightful question that arose on completion and presentation of my Master’s thesis ‘Optimising Bicycle Fitting for Aerodynamic Performance’. The question forms the basis of this paper, which highlights the absence of female physical and computational models within sports engineering with an emphasis on the cycling industry. This paper discusses the implication of male assumption on female athletes, and how inclusion can improve the future of research and development. The research was performed by surveying prominent sports engineering researchers, particularly those involved with creation of 3D models for CFD analysis, as well as physiologists and female athletes. Current literature and personal insight have been included to further highlight the research. A thematic analysis showed that there is a need to challenge, not just the cycling industry, but the sports engineering industry as a whole when it comes to the inclusion of female input. This paper serves as a call to action for the cause.
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