I'm not sure I can answer the question. In my youth there wasn't a sport I couldn't play well. Went to college on a football scholarship and played baseball there. Was a QB and a SS so had the hand-eye thing down. When I started cycling (after a layoff of 8 yrs. ) ten years ago at age 58 I was 20 lbs overweight, out of shape and older than most others in the cycling club I joined. After a couple years I was still overweight but in better shape and some fellow riders expressed surprise that I rode as well as I did. I always responded by saying "I used to be an athlete." Then one day I was emailing a childhood friend who had been a cyclist on the '64 US Olympic Team and I told him that cycling had made me feel like an athlete again. He said he thought that was one of the benefits of cycling. So, I don't know exactly what an athlete is but I'm leaning towards the idea that if you are engaged in athletic/competitive endeavors and consider yourself an athlete...why not?