GMP said:dajo9 said:
I give her credit for learning the rules and gaming the system, all to no harm to anybody
This isn't really accurate. There are 30 spots. She took one of them from someone who, while unlikely* to have a chance to medal, likely worked a lot harder at her craft than Swaney.
*I say unlikely given the story of the Czech snowboarder who qualified for the skiing Super-G and somehow won the gold. https://deadspin.com/czech-snowboarder-borrows-mikaela-shiffrins-skis-someh-1823095253
I've tried to find some better explanations to the qualification rules, and the wiki is the best I could do:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_skiing_at_the_2018_Winter_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Qualification
While there were 30 slots possible, only 24 participated in womens' skiing halfpipe. So I don't see that she took anyone else's slot, unless Hungary had a limited number of athletes they were going to send and Swaney pushed out a competitor from a different sport.
The limitation of the total number of freestyle skiers from one country (30 total split between M and F) and from one country in one event (4) appears to be what kept the field in halfpipe from filling up. There are absolutely 100's of American pro boarders that would easily get in above Swaney, but the USA had maxed out at 4.
There are actually 5 events in freestyle skiing for both men and women, so a country that sends their full contingent (nominally 15 men and 15 women) will have to choose which events they send their athletes to, so many will be short of the max. Strategically, it would be in events where the athletes have a chance to medal (notice the US did not send participants in men's or women's skiercross - likely because our athletes in that discipline would not be competitive and no one really does that in the US anyway, while moguls, slopestyle and halfpipe are very popular).
I totally agree with your statement that jahvid is not even close to the same as swaney. He actually competes and to be honest isn't that much slower than Bolt, especially when compared to an average human. He is a seriously gifted athlete, as we all know. Even Eddie the Eagle's performance resembled actual training and competition - he may not have been world class by any means, but he did embrace the risk of ski jumping and you know, actually jump. Many times.
Not even completing a real trick is a different level of not being competitive. So many of the skiing events are truly dangerous (Sarah Burke, the sports' biggest female star died in 2012 after a training accident), and all competitors are risking their health in very serious ways every time they compete.
I mean look what happens if one misjudges just a bit:
I'm not saying risking death or injury is a requirement for being an olympic athlete, but a lot of these winter events do have a level of risk that is just huge, especially if one is not skilled.
Hopefully, Swaney doesn't start saying crazy things on TV or newspaper interviews. I mean I still think it's so absurd that it's kind of hilarious, as long as she doesn't dig herself a hole with statements that try make her appearance into something else.
