239:, and score a minimum of 50.00 FIS points. Swaney achieved this by attending competitions with fewer than thirty participants, with one event in China having fifteen (in which she placed thirteenth). Thirteen of her top 30 finishes were a result of her showing up, not falling, and recording a score. As a result of Swaney's selection of competitions, she was ranked 34th in her run up to the Olympics. The
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also aided in her qualifying. While 24 women were able to compete in half-pipe competition, there are limits on the number of skiers each country could send. The maximum a country could send was twenty-six (with maximums of fourteen men and fourteen women) across all freestyle skiing events. So while
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At the 2018 Winter
Olympics, Swaney competed in the women's half-pipe, in what was described as a "perfectly mediocre run", without falling. She scored 30.00 and 31.40, "barely attempting a trick" in either of her two runs. She placed last in the competition, 13.60 points behind
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the United States had six women ranked within the top 20 in the world in halfpipe skiing, only four were allowed to compete in the
Olympics based on the quota system. Between the quota system and injuries, Swaney's ranking of 34 granted her qualification for the Olympics.
231:. Beginning in 2013 she attended all the World Cup qualifying events over the two Olympic qualifying years, and the 2017 World Championship in Sierra Nevada, Spain. In order to qualify for the Olympics, athletes needed to place in the top 30 at either a
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167:. Her father owns an insurance agency and her mother is a Spanish interpreter. She has a brother. In her youth, Swaney was the only girl in her local soccer and Little League teams and in high school, rowed for the
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261:(MOB) to reevaluate its selection process, and possible changes to the quota system. As of 2021, no changes have been made to the FIS freestyle ski selection process in halfpipe skiing.
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and the only woman on the championship
Division I Men's Crew/Rowing team and a Pac-10 Second Team All-American. Having had Olympic ambitions since childhood, she sought to compete in
812:"After a mysterious freestyle ski run in last year's Winter Olympics, people called Elizabeth Swaney a scam artist and the worst athlete in the history of the games. They're wrong"
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from Yahoo Sports was one of the few to interview Swaney at the games and wrote a piece, "Is
Elizabeth Swaney the worst Olympian? Actually, she might be the best."
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in design studies with a focus on real estate. While at
Harvard, she volunteered as the assistant coach for their Track and Field team.
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as a pilot for the United States, but was told she was too small to be competitive in the sport. She then turned to
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756:"Never bet against Canada in moguls: Everything you need to know about Olympic ski and snowboard (judged events)"
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While critics called her
Olympic performance a "mockery", she received support from Canadian gold medalist skier
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in Los
Angeles; she became interested in the sport while training in skeleton, and focused on it during the
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561:"Anastassia Smorodinskaya: American dual-sport athlete Liz Swaney chases Olympic dreams...for Venezuela"
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453:"Underdog Liz Swaney from Oakland is talk of Olympics after her modest skiing in halfpipe"
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641:"The Winter Olympics Feature 2,951 of the World's Greatest Athletes, and also this Woman"
425:"Here's what Elizabeth Swaney was like during her Harvard days, according to her mentor"
534:"Elizabeth Swaney, Viral Olympic Skier, Says She Put Her Whole Heart Into Her Halfpipe"
215:. She started skiing for Hungary in 2015, based on her grandparents' country of birth.
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of
Denmark, who had fallen in both of her qualifying runs. The incident prompted the
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620:"Meet Elizabeth Swaney, the American skier who scammed her way to the Olympics"
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590:"How did average American skier Elizabeth Swaney make Hungary's Olympic team?"
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729:"Is Elizabeth Swaney the worst Olympian ever, or just one of the craftiest?"
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674:"How an Average American Skier Managed to Scheme Her Way into the Olympics"
698:"Qualification System for the XXIII Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018"
836:"Is Elizabeth Swaney the worst Olympian? Actually, she might be the best"
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Swaney grew up in a bilingual
Spanish–English household in the Oakland
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508:"'Worst Olympian ever': how a young skier triumphed over trolls"
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in 2007. While a student, she briefly launched a campaign for
119:(born 30 July 1984) is an American who competed for
151:in the women's halfpipe, in which she placed last.
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288:Swaney seeks to qualify to represent Hungary as a
308:Swaney has worked as a technical recruiter for
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135:ancestry. She was unable to qualify for the
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532:Bromwich, Jonah Engel (20 February 2018).
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179:. She then earned a master's degree from
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941:American people of Hungarian descent
423:Reiss, Jaclyn (22 February 2018).
193:University of California, Berkeley
173:University of California, Berkeley
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991:Sportspeople of Hungarian descent
971:Hungarian female freestyle skiers
931:21st-century American sportswomen
874:"Ninja Profile: Elizabeth Swaney"
754:Spurrier, Guy (7 February 2018).
936:American female freestyle skiers
810:Rothbart, Davy (14 March 2019).
705:Fédération Internationale de Ski
451:Becker, Jon (20 February 2018).
211:, her mother's homeland, at the
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370:International Olympic Committee
951:California Golden Bears rowers
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304:Personal and professional life
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399:Ostler, Scott (2024-08-17).
259:Hungarian Olympic Committee
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324:Spinsters of San Francisco
966:Harvard University alumni
366:"Elizabeth Marian Swaney"
223:Swaney qualified for the
171:. She graduated from the
227:representing Hungary in
155:Early life and education
406:San Francisco Chronicle
117:Elizabeth Marian Swaney
35:Elizabeth Marian Swaney
783:"Winter Olympic Games"
319:American Ninja Warrior
177:Governor of California
672:Raphelson, Samantha.
458:San Jose Mercury News
346:Dunning-Kruger effect
294:2028 Summer Olympics
284:2028 Summer Olympics
241:Olympic quota system
225:2018 Winter Olympics
213:2014 Winter Olympics
149:2018 Winter Olympics
137:2014 Winter Olympics
125:2018 Winter Olympics
27:Personal information
838:. 21 February 2018.
255:Laila Friis-Salling
64:Oakland, California
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850:"Elizabeth Swaney"
735:. 22 February 2018
566:Sports Illustrated
539:The New York Times
219:Olympic qualifying
181:Harvard University
911:Swaney's FIS Page
761:The National Post
569:. 5 December 2013
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58:30 July 1984
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878:Ninja Guide
652:19 February
375:19 February
290:powerlifter
278:Jeff Passan
40:Nationality
920:Categories
859:2022-03-11
821:2019-03-16
793:2021-03-10
733:CBC Sports
683:2018-02-21
625:CBS Sports
485:2022-03-11
352:References
274:David Wise
54:1984-07-30
883:17 August
595:USA Today
517:17 August
480:Spinsters
310:Thumbtack
235:event or
209:Venezuela
201:bobsleigh
165:Lafayette
161:Rockridge
141:Venezuela
133:Hungarian
330:See also
205:skeleton
197:coxswain
145:skeleton
143:in both
109:Halfpipe
43:American
906:Twitter
854:Twitter
767:6 March
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710:6 March
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314:barista
312:, as a
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127:in the
123:in the
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75:Country
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