But aren't they?

Pretty much every sportsperson who wears a helmet is an athlete, no?

It's not the golfers or bowlers who are wearing helmets. It's the American football and ice hockey players. Even F1 drivers need to be in top athletic condition.

As a general rule not all sportspeople are athletes, but for this article "athlete" does feel like the more natural word.

I bike for transportation sometimes but I wouldn’t consider myself a cycling athlete.

You wouldn't be a sportsperson then either :)