When we're talking average, we're talking average in comparison to pretty much every other athlete / skier who's taken part in this year's Winter Olympics.

The story behind the video, however, is even odder. Swaney, who's an American from Oakland but claims her parents are from Hungary, effectively duped the system into having her compete at the Winter Olympics' Women's Halfpipe Ski for Hungary. As longtime judge Steele Spence - yes, that's a real name - explained to the Denver Post, a lot of it simply had to do with turning up in the right place.

Essentially, Steele explains, the Winter Olympics requires that you place in the Top 30 in a number of competitions in that particular event. Women's Halfpipe Skiing doesn't exactly have a huge array of competitors, so placing in the Top 30 is relatively easy if you're prepared to simply wait for someone to crash so you don't place dead last.

"The field is not that deep in the women’s pipe and she went to every World Cup, where there were only 24, 25, or 28 women. She would compete in them consistently over the last couple years and sometimes girls would crash so she would not end up dead last. There are going to be changes to World Cup quotas and qualifying to be eligible for the Olympics. Those things are in the works so technically you need to qualify up through the system."

So, how mediocre are we talking? Take a look and see for yourself.

Not surprisingly, Swaney's antics caught people's imagination - and ire.

 

 

So, yeah, there you have it. Never let it be said that money and determination will stop you from doing anything.

 

Via Twitter