One minute you’re renowned across the world for your diving skills, the next, you’ve gone viral for rebuffing safety regulations on an extreme water slide.

That’s what happened to Australian athlete Rhiannan Iffland, anyway, as footage of her ‘YOLO moment’ at the Area 47 adventure park in Austria spread like wildfire across social media. Back in June last year, the seven-time world champion cliff diver was visiting the attraction with a pal when they fancied having a go on one of Europe’s fastest waterslides.

The only thing is, there was a sign on the entrance which stated: “Due to high risk of injury, women are not allowed to use this slide!” Iffland, 33, was seen acknowledging the warning and even turned to her friend who was filming the moment to reiterate that ‘women aren’t supposed to use this’.Still, she ignored it – and the high diver decided to have a go of the waterslide which boasts speeds of up to 80 km/h and is apparently only suitable for men to use.

Iffland caused quite a stir online after she uploaded the footage to her Instagram alongside the caption: “Here for a good time not a long time! Another YOLO moment.” Carpe diem and all of that…but it turns out there’s a very good reason for women being prohibited from riding the waterslide, which social media users quickly pointed out to Iffland.

Why can’t women use the Area 47 waterslide?

Although a lot of ladies love whizzing down waterslides just as much as the next bloke, some of them just aren’t safe for women to use. A host of people informed Iffland of this in the comment section of her post, although some admitted they were also baffled by the rule.

“Well, she want to be a daredevil so she had to live with the consequences if she got hurt,” one disgruntled follower said, while another wrote: “You’re supposed to be a role model. Rules have a purpose! It protects against massive vaginal injuries. It would be better to explain the reason for the ban instead of ignoring the sign!”

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 pressured water enters their body, and there is also a risk of infections due to the foreign bodies found in the water.