Elizabeth Swaney's last place finish makes headlines worldwide
The internet is a mix of sneering, jeering and begrudging respect for the ingenuity of Elizabeth Swaney, who realised her Olympic dream this week.
I don't think anyone could have predicted the last place finisher in the women’s half pipe event at the Winter Olympic would garner worldwide headlines.
Sports fans were left confused when they saw Swaney hit the half-pipe and casually glide back-and-forth in a basic run devoid of any tricks at the Winter Olympics.
Swaney, an American, competed for Hungary after approaching their Olympic committee to offer to represent the nation. She basically said 'I can go if you have nobody else going'.
Hungary didn’t have a competitor lined up for the event, so having confirmed Swaney had reached the required qualification standard, she got the green light to fly the flag.
The 33-year-old only took up freestyle skiing in 2013 with the aim of achieving a dream and making it to the Olympics. She initially represented her mother’s country of birth Venezuela, before switching her allegiance to Hungary, home of her grandparents.
Swaney spent two years attending qualifying events with 30 athletes or less which meant a guaranteed a top 30 finish.
The ranking points accumulated by getting those results granted her a place at the Olympics - where she naturally finished last.
The Hungarian Ski Federation say they are deeply embarrassed and admit they had never seen her ski before.
Swaney says competing at the Olympics was a dream come true, but admits she was disappointed with her performance.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been satisfied with my halfpipe runs, and I don’t think a lot of skiers are,” she said.
“I haven’t been as confident as I wanted to be to go higher out of the pipe and just really go for these bigger tricks.”