This Silicon Valley skier just gave the least impressive performance of the Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympics have been full of mind-blowing feats of athleticism and artistry.
This is not one of them.
Elizabeth Swaney made her Olympic debut in the freeski halfpipe on Monday. It was ... not impressive. She casually slides back and forth down the halfpipe, like she's on vacation in Aspen instead of competing against elite athletes. She barely even attempts a trick.
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(We can't embed the video, because NBC Sports apparently doesn't want too many people watching the Winter Olympics, but the footage can be found here.)
She was competing for Hungary, which sounds like it could be an inspiring story. Maybe the country barely has a ski program, and she was making the best of it?
But, nope, she's a software engineer recruiter in the Bay Area who found a way to game the system. She paid to travel around the world and attend as many World Cup halfpipe events as she could, being careful not to fall down during her runs. She always "finished last or within a couple spots of last place," reports the Denver Post.
A post shared by Elizabeth Swaney (@lizswaney) on Jun 3, 2017 at 1:03pm PDT
Since the field in the women's freeski halfpipe isn't that deep, she qualified mostly by not falling down, instead of, you know, being good at her sport. Oh, and she says her grandparents are Hungarian.
Not everyone was amused by her antics.
“That’s right kids, you too can get into the Olympics just like Elizabeth Swaney.
1. Have enough money to travel the world competing in skiing events for 2 years.
2. Make sure the events have less than 30 competitors.
3. Place in the Top 30.”— #VoteThemOut 202-224-3121 🇺🇸 (@KsKM3) February 19, 2018
I'm not sure the defense for Elizabeth Swaney is that she's a better-than-average skier. She went to all those competitions around the world ... and didn't even **try** a trick?
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) February 19, 2018
Not gonna lie, I’ve kind fallen for Elizabeth Swaney… what’s that? Oh. I hope they never let her back in the country. pic.twitter.com/TllcVUFB9T
— Matt Johnson (@twoeightnine) February 19, 2018
Truly, an inspiring Olympic story for the ages.