If you’ve been as obsessed with the Olympics as we have, then you probably already heard about the American skiier who represented Hungary and failed to qualify — not only did she fail to qualify, but she seemed to only attempt tricks that any weekend winter sports enthusiast could make.
How freeskier Elizabeth Swaney made it to the #WinterOlympics with this very simple halfpipe run: https://t.co/enfDyoQjGC pic.twitter.com/kHTAV7XND4
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 20, 2018
So let’s talk about it.
What’s your take on what this competitor did?
Is it wrong? Unethical?
Please state your position on this and explain why.
buffalo says
February 23, 2018 at 9:40 pmI don’t think what she did was unethical. She beat a system by being clever and persistent.
That being said, I do find it absurd that in her interviews she says that she can compete at a world-class level. She is either delusional or lying, both of which are off-putting. Her claim for this is that she can do 360s, 720s, frontflips, and backflips off a kicker into water, but hasn’t had the confidence to land them on snow. As a life-long skier that dabbles in freestyle, I rolled my eyes when I heard that. There is a MASSIVE difference between landing something on a straight ramp into water and landing it in a superpipe. Plus, talking about 360s and world-class? Come on; those are laughably basic.
essaysnark says
February 26, 2018 at 4:27 pm@buffalo, thanks for the comments, and for the real-world perspective from your own experiences! We had similar eye-rolling reactions too.