Cyclist pinches butt of ‘podium girl,’ later apologizes

[zboy1]

Funny story:

Slovakian cyclist pinches backside of ‘podium girl,’ later apologizes after heavy criticism
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/the-turns ... 11956.html

Peter Sagan may have finished second in the Tour of Flanders in Belgium on Sunday, but he definitely took first when it came to "jokes" that backfired in a big way.

Sagan, a 23-year-old cyclist from Belgium, is attracting plenty of criticism from the cycling world and beyond after he pinched the backside of a podium girl during the medal ceremony. The mischievous grin on Sagan's face suggests he was hamming it up for the cameras that were trained on him, but he quickly learned the error of his ways once the photo made its way around the Internet.

"Shame that Peter Sagan has so much class on a bike and so very little off of it," fellow rider Michael Hutchinson later tweeted.


The photograph has actually opened up a much-needed debate about the presence of the smooch-happy podium girls and the ingrained objectification of women in the world of cycling. Is the winner taking home a cycling title or an armful of women? It sends the wrong message, especially for young women actually looking to hop on a cycle instead of a cyclist.

More than a few people have pointed out that the woman in question was planting a wet one on the cheek of winner Fabian Cancellara, as if that meant she were somehow asking for it. Of course she wasn't, but the mixed messages the "tradition" sends is proof enough that it's time to come up with a better way to celebrate a win.

Sagan later apologized for his action:

I guess there's a lot less political correctness in Eastern Europe than there is in the Western world, LOL.

[E_Irizarry]

That's normal to flirt like that in parts of Europe. European GILFs do late-adolescent boys and early-2o-year-old men, and nobody bats an eye nor frowns upon it. Parts of central and eastern Europe have people streaking in the streets every now and then, and nobody is cited a ticket nor arrested. Last but sure as hell not the least, people have sex in public a lot in Europe (and aren't castigated for it)...even in the western parts of Europe.

Hutchinson sounds Aussie or British or N. American (Can It? Duh?! or U.S. of Gay) so of course the mangina would go on record villifying the thug-waffle guy from Belgium. (SMH)

It sounds like Western media condemned "Carl" Sagan's intrinsic-reflexive reactions.

[Atarii]

I draw the line at touching. I would not do it, and would not tolerate it being done to me. (Actually, if an attractive girl fondled me in some sexual way, I doubt that I would have too much of a problem with it, but it would lead to nothing.)