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Women's Halfpipe - Elizabeth Swaney
She basically came in the back door: https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/...n-skier-that-schemed-her-way-to-the-olympics/
She had enough finishes at World Cup competitions to qualify. You can't really blame her that there aren't always enough strong competitors. She's actually ranked #34 in the world.
Oh, I think what she did is awesome, and I don't deny that she legitimately qualified under the rules. But the article I linked makes it clear that she obtained enough "top 30" finishes by basically competing in events where there were as few competitors as possible.
She applied Olympic levels of determinaton, that's for sure.
"Frontside pizza to french fry"
- Best comment on Facebook (I'd give the person credit, but don't recall who it was)
- Best comment on Facebook (I'd give the person credit, but don't recall who it was)
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Ah OK. So it is the FIS's own fault for greedily grabbing freestyle without being able or willing to generate a deep enough talent pool for its own events.
She also has achieved more star time than any mid field athletes.
Seems a bit more legit than Vanessa Mae though setting up and rigging her own minor races to qualify.
She also has achieved more star time than any mid field athletes.
Seems a bit more legit than Vanessa Mae though setting up and rigging her own minor races to qualify.
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An inspiration to all mediocre athletes around the world
Eddie the Eagle, Jamaican bobsled all over again. Good for her. Can't say as I skied a 1/2 pipe even.
Cassie did a great job, but her medal is overshadowed by Tessa and Scott. All I hear about this morning is Ice dance. Dammit - we won a gold in 1/2 pipe too!
Cassie did a great job, but her medal is overshadowed by Tessa and Scott. All I hear about this morning is Ice dance. Dammit - we won a gold in 1/2 pipe too!
Yes, she qualified by accumulating points. And yes, the field isn't that deep. But she also gamed the system, participating in events with fewer than 30 participants and keeping her runs simple to avoid falls. It's obviously imperfect but there's not a lot of damage done. There will be calls to fix this but it's fairly self-correcting. You couldn't get more than a couple athletes sneaking in through this back door so it's not worth the trouble of legislating. I actually have a bigger problem with her qualifying as Hungarian than I do with her ranking.
I do wonder how she didn't manage to get better at this simply by practicing for and participating in the events she attended. You would think that this experience, exposure and competitive spirit would have her doing at least a little more. I see skiers and boarders pushing themselves further than this every day on the local hill and they don't have the benefit of being surrounded by some of the best in the world.
The nuttiest thing (I thought) was that the commentator seemed to be taking her seriously. Which is a nice, respectful way to treat a fellow human, but I couldn't believe he didn't even mention how she qualified etc. I mean she was clearly an outlier, performance-wise.
She's way better than I'll ever be in a superpipe.
Anyone skied a superpipe? Got some video?
Getting above the top edge is no joke. It scares the crap out of me, so I only putz through there a couple times a year.
Anyone skied a superpipe? Got some video?
Getting above the top edge is no joke. It scares the crap out of me, so I only putz through there a couple times a year.
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Representing Venezuela in 2013 and then Hungary in 2016 to get a backdoor into the winter games. I said it many time to others and even to myself, "just because you can does not mean you should". I don't think I will sleep well at night if I pulled off something like that .... earning it means something to me.
Although one can argue technically she “earned it”.
I hate this sort of thing, I get the concept of say a Mexican XC skier, Jamaican bobsled team, etc. For the games from a lens of bringing the games to those countries.....I do not see this to be in the same spirit as those.
I hate this sort of thing, I get the concept of say a Mexican XC skier, Jamaican bobsled team, etc. For the games from a lens of bringing the games to those countries.....I do not see this to be in the same spirit as those.
She's way better than I'll ever be in a superpipe.
Anyone skied a superpipe? Got some video?
Getting above the top edge is no joke. It scares the crap out of me, so I only putz through there a couple times a year.
Yeah, the headline in the video "can't do tricks, can't ski" is a bit misleading... I've gotten about 2/3rds of the way up a superpipe wall and that was plenty high enough for me. I thought her performance was going to be much worse based on the headline.
I grabbed my 14yr old daughter and showed her this and told her to get on ancestry.com to see if we can get her to compete in 4 years.. she's already got a Volkl twin-tip setup.. and i'm sure she could cork something completely by accident and do better than a 30 score. And we all know it's not her first time in a halfpipe of that size..
I was skiing half pipes before it was a thing.. they aren't that hard.. rather the opposite.. they make it easy to do tricks..
Was disgraceful.. she didn't even look comfortable skiing down the slope into the pipe.. guess now we can tell any kid that, work hard or not.. you too can be an Olympic athlete.. What Eddie the eagle did was miles harder by comparison. She's what.. 22 or something? This is what a world of participation trophies gets you....
I was skiing half pipes before it was a thing.. they aren't that hard.. rather the opposite.. they make it easy to do tricks..
Was disgraceful.. she didn't even look comfortable skiing down the slope into the pipe.. guess now we can tell any kid that, work hard or not.. you too can be an Olympic athlete.. What Eddie the eagle did was miles harder by comparison. She's what.. 22 or something? This is what a world of participation trophies gets you....