Active Expert: Gale Bernhardt: Has Triathlon Influenced Other Sports?

As far as I know, triathlon race distances for men versus women were never different. While the race distances were the same, prize money was not always the same. I do recall some early discussions to make prize money distribution equal between the genders, so this point was an issue and there was not early equality. Currently most, if not all, of the major races have equal prize purses for men and women.

Recall in my magazine survey, that I found that Triathlete magazine was closer to equal exposure for men and women than the other non-gender-specific sports magazines. I decided to do a count in Inside Triathlon as well. What I found was 47 female images and 45 male images. In fairness to the other magazines, this particular issue of Inside Triathlon was the 2007 Women's Special (which I didn't realize before I started counting); but still, darn good numbers.

It seems that triathlon is a sport where equality between genders is more the norm, than the exception. What do you think?

Has the sport of triathlon influenced cycling in this area? How about other sports?