'I can't stop thinking about Elizabeth Swaney, who became an Olympian with nearly no skill.'

Like many Australians, I've found myself transfixed watching the Paris Olympics. The dedication, the sportsmanship and the drive to compete on the world stage has brought a tear to my eye more than once. 

Meanwhile, my Olympics side quest has been looking into all the other random anecdotes the four-yearly sporting event has offered throughout the generations. 

This, of course, includes the addition of 'Freestyle Ballet Skiing' in 1984 (watch here), the recipe to this year's viral Olympic Village chocolate muffin, and one American skier by the name of Elizabeth Swaney. 

For those who don't know much about Swaney, it's safe to say that she's an eccentric character. Born during the 1984 Olympics, she says she felt compelled as a seven-year-old to become an Olympian. 

"I was watching the Olympics when I was really young, probably aged about seven. I think I've wanted to be an Olympian ever since that time. It's been a lifetime goal," she told The Guardian. 

Swaney, an American citizen from Oakland, California, tried her hand at many sports. At one point she was a coxswain for the highly-ranked University of California men's rowing team. She tried skating and ice hockey. In a quick departure from sports, she even launched a bid to win the role of governor of California, a role that was eventually filled by Arnold Schwarzenegger. She also tried to be a professional cheerleader and ended up going to Harvard University to study real estate. 

She was always a 'try girl'. But she never quite made it. 

Image: Instagram

So, Swaney turned her attention to qualifying for the 2014 Winter Olympics, aiming to represent Venezuela in the skeleton. She trained constantly, taking part-time jobs to keep her afloat, but it wasn't enough and she didn't qualify. 

Unperturbed, she moved on to another sport, realising that halfpipe could be her ticket to the Olympics on a few technicalities. 

Firstly, the numbers were in her favour. There was a relatively low supply of female competitors. It was a particularly dangerous sport that lent itself to crashing and 'scratching' in big tricks. Finally, a total of 24 women would qualify for the Olympics. To get in, she simply needed to rack up enough points in overseas championships to be in that top 24. There were also country quotas, which meant that big countries like the United States could only take four skiers, despite having many more talented athletes. 

It was the loophole Swaney needed. She worked around the clock and flew herself to every championship she could to garner points towards her cause. She realised if she simply skied neatly, without doing any major tricks, she could record a decent score and slowly build her tally. All she had to do was not fall.

Swaney was also representing Hungary — where her parents originate from — for halfpipe, which meant that she didn't need to beat the many other talented American skiers to qualify. 

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A post shared by Elizabeth Swaney (@lizswaney)

Throw in a few competitors getting hurt and needing to pull out, and Swaney had enough points to qualify in the top 24 for the Olympics. She finally got her Olympic uniform, after years of trial and error. 

So, when the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018 rolled around, Swaney was there. She was in the Olympic village, she could officially call herself an Olympian. It was time to show the world what she was made of. 

She took off on her run which was clean and nearly free of tricks — bar an 'alley-oop' 180-degree turn and a backward twist on her exit from the course. 

She finished the run with no faults, bumping her fists in the air as she waited for the final score. She got a 31.4, one of the lowest recorded scores in the sport's Olympic history. 

She may have come last, but she was there. 

Image: Instagram

"On my last run I did three tricks… I was definitely trying to go for a performance with many tricks. It just didn't happen, I wasn't able to show my best that day," she told CBS News of the run. 

"I'm just so honoured and proud, and excited to be an Olympian. And to be amongst so many amazing athletes at the Olympic village, as well as competing, has been a great experience," she told MPORA. 

It's safe to say that watching Swaney ski the course was like watching a ballet dancer not do a single pirouette or an AFL player not kick a single goal. It kind of defies logic that it was enough to compete on the world stage, but it's not like she didn't do it fair and square. Those were the rules, and she followed them.  

Of course, there are multiple opinions on Swaney's performance.

"Don't hate the player. Hate the game. Love her resourcefulness and determination. She's an Olympic athlete. Can you say that? Didn't think so," one X user wrote. 

Another wrote, "You are a complete joke… making a mockery of a sport and Olympics where real athletes work hard to achieve dreams and show out for our country, smh."

Either she's a hero who used her smarts and her blood sweat and tears to reach a life goal, or she's a selfish fame-grasper who stole a spot from someone who could actually do the course with flair. 

Still, there's no denying that like many other athletes around her, Swaney sacrificed for her spot. 

She worked around the clock to fund the trips to championships in far off destinations. When she wasn't working, she was practising to ensure her runs were clean and would always score. 

There's a reason I can't stop thinking about Swaney. I think it has something to do with the sheer belief in herself, with being okay with being the worst on the course as long as she was there. 

There's a sweet innocence in how what many would call 'delusion' led her to one of the biggest achievements of her life. She was also really smart in what she did, using the rules to her advantage to make it happen. 

Image: Instagram

"I did a little bit of crowdfunding throughout the course of my world cup competitions to get here but I would say about 90 per cent of it was just me working hard in the office or other jobs in, sometimes the ski industry, to make it and get here," she told CBS News. 

"Sometimes I would work like 18-20 hour days to afford it. That, of course, wasn't every day. Some people would ask questions, just my friends, like 'When do you have a day off to hang out?'

"I would say, 'Well, I haven't had a day off in the last three months. I'm either working or training every hour of the day.'"

As for the criticism, she didn't let it touch her. 

"I really appreciate everyone's comments, whether they're positive or coming from a more critical tone, and I definitely consider those," she told CBS News. 

"But I also think that the people who are experts on this, for women's halfpipe…are the women that I compete with. 

"Everything that I've read that's been said about me from those fellow women that compete in the Olympics with me…has been overwhelmingly positive. Some of them have been asked, 'Do I belong here?' And they've said, 'yes'."

Welcome to your new Roman Empire. You can watch Elizabeth's 2018 halfpipe competition here. 

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A post shared by Elizabeth Swaney (@lizswaney)

Feature image: Instagram

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