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Making the Olympic Team

cdskier

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i admit, it bothers me a bit when i see an athlete competing under the flag of a nation other than their own.

Only a bit? That bothers me a lot. Based on the articles it appears she has no direct ties to Hungary. Are there no citizenship eligibility requirements?

Taking advantage of numerous loopholes to sneak into the event makes her come across as an entitled b****...
 

urungus

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Only a bit? That bothers me a lot. Based on the articles it appears she has no direct ties to Hungary. Are there no citizenship eligibility requirements?

Taking advantage of numerous loopholes to sneak into the event makes her come across as an entitled b****...

Supposedly her grandparents were Hungarian. And the gold and silver medalist in the event have no problem with her being there:

“If you are going to put in the time and effort to be here, then you deserve to be here as much as I do,” said Canada’s Cassie Sharpe, who qualified in first place with the two highest-scoring runs.

France’s Marie Martinod, who qualified in second, said she had no ill-feelings towards Swaney for her participation.

“I am a super open-minded person,” she said. “This is why the Olympics are so special.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...fpipe-for-unconventional-swaney-idUSKCN1G30JS
 

VTKilarney

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Too many foreigners have now started competing for a country that they have never lived in. It's out of control.

That being said, this one doesn't bother me. I am impressed that she figured out this plan and executed it perfectly. And any sport that can't consistently get at least 30 people to show up for World Cup competitions deserved to be trolled. If anything, she did a service by showing how lame this event is.

I haven't given this a ton of thought, though, since I've been too busy thinking about the French ice dancer's nip-slip.

Slightly NSFW: https://www.maxim.com/sports/gabriella-papdakis-figure-sakter-nip-slip-2018-2
 

Glenn

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Anyone remember Eddie The Eagle? I think that was mid/late 1980's.
 

VTKilarney

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Anyone remember Eddie The Eagle? I think that was mid/late 1980's.

Everyone loved him. Yet every hates this woman. The patriarchy is real. Or perhaps we just knew how to have fun in the 80s and weren't offended by anything and everything.
 

cdskier

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Eddie at least competed for his own country...he didn't find another country that had room left in their quota for another competitor.
 

mriceyman

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Put the time and effort in? Cmon really? I say we make her live there


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
 

flakeydog

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I have to say that was a bit embarrassing (to her and the sport). But, it would not be worth it to close this "loophole" of sorts. What a situation like this can do is inspire others from that country to participate. in this case it might be a pissed off snowboarder that actually grew up in Hungary wanting to represent their country in a more legitimate fashion. The other situation that it creates was summed up in an interview with the sole guy from Tonga (you know the greased-up half naked guy). He explained that he was doing this to inspire someone, anyone, from his home country to come out an participate summer or winter. Just a source of national pride. Yes, some will take advantage like with most things in life but Swaney is the one that has to look herself in the mirror every day (something that it seems like she has no trouble doing). She will be gone and forgotten soon enough.

P.S. -- the only thing more embarrassing that her run was the commentary. It sounded like an SNL skit or something.
 
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BenedictGomez

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Everyone loved him. Yet every hates this woman. The patriarchy is real. Or perhaps we just knew how to have fun in the 80s and weren't offended by anything and everything.

Entirely different situations.

E.T.E. was actually British, and although terrible, did learn to at least "do" the sport. And he wanted to get better & legitimately compete.

This woman isn't even Hungarian, and doesn't even attempt to "do" the sport she's participating in.
 

SIKSKIER

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What a friggin joke that run is.I have a huge problem with this.Next thing you know we will have people sliding rocks on ice as competition and televise every day of the olympics...oh wait.....
 

BenedictGomez

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What a friggin joke that run is.I have a huge problem with this.Next thing you know we will have people sliding rocks on ice as competition and televise every day of the olympics...oh wait.....

YOU try curling! I've done it a few times, and it's about 20x harder than bowling. It's difficult to even stop a rock anywhere in the bullseye let alone the dead center and/or pulling off all the trick combos they do. I think it's a great game.
 

VTKilarney

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I have to say that was a bit embarrassing (to her and the sport).

It should be embarrassing. As I said earlier, any sport that can't regularly attract at least 30 competitors to World Cup events shouldn't be in the Olympics. I am glad that this competitor highlighted this reality.
 

BenedictGomez

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It should be embarrassing. As I said earlier, any sport that can't regularly attract at least 30 competitors to World Cup events shouldn't be in the Olympics. I am glad that this competitor highlighted this reality.

I mentioned something similar about the Skier/Boarder Cross. How many people globally even take this seriously?

I mean, it's cool as hell, but if I had a kid who wanted to do that full-time, where do I go?

Maybe that's why we see the same names in Olympic games after Olympic games for these niche sports. Lindsey Jacobellis just competed in her 4th Olympics in this at the age of 32. Is she really elite, or is she just one of the few people who actually dedicated years of their life to this extremely niche sport?
 

raisingarizona

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Honestly I didn't even know that the U Jump was still a thing until this Olympics. I don't know anyone that's into it.
 

BenedictGomez

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Here's another Olympic sham athlete. Apparently he only learned to ski last year, and it shows.

I found this in an article mentioning that there are actually a LOT of people who have no business being in the Olympics; maybe this sort of thing really is getting out of hand.

 

gmcunni

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Here's another Olympic sham athlete. Apparently he only learned to ski last year, and it shows.

I found this in an article mentioning that there are actually a LOT of people who have no business being in the Olympics; maybe this sort of thing really is getting out of hand.

i think the guy who came in 2nd to last in that race was also "sham athlete" Pita Taufatofua of Tonga -

In order to qualify for the games twice in the space of two years, the 24-year-old Pacific-Islander transformed himself from an Olympic taekwondo competitor into an Olympic cross-country skier. A feat he has described as a “miracle.”

“After Rio I decided to find the hardest sport possible, because I needed a new challenge, and the hardest sport possible was cross country skiing,” Taufatofua told the Olympic Channel in Jan, after qualifying. “The goal was to do it in one year. And we did it in one year” he said. “Twenty years I sacrificed to become a summer Olympian, and one year to become a winter Olympian.”
 
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