To me an athlete is a person who engages in some physical activity either to compete or to maintain/improve their health or simply for the love of it. It is possible to do all three at once, of course! Skill and ability have nothing to do with whether or not one is an athlete although they do determine how successful you will be should you choose to compete. When I was young I was competitive though not highly successful. As I aged I kept up my physical activity by running for its health benefits. And then one day I became wise through rediscovering bicycling and now I ride both for health and for love of the thing. To some extent I compete against myself and once in a while against that person on the trail ahead of me, but mostly I have laid aside competition. I'd rather stop and help someone fix a flat or slow down and let a struggling rider draft me than compete.