American “scams” her way into the Olympics: terrible or admirable?

Dirk Diggler.. wrote:

David Torrence could run a low 13 minute 5000. He made the Olympic final for Peru (he finished last in the final but made the final nonetheless). He raced and trained internationally as a true professional runner. Very different in that he had world class talent.

This woman appears to be an above average recreational skier doing it for the experience. I agree with other that if you go to any ski resort, particularly out west, tons of people could do what she did. And of course if she were from a disadvantaged, non-snow country, people would have clapped, laughed and celebrated it as a feel good story. Not so for a privileged American.

It’s not the same as someone like Eddie the Eagle who was born in Britain and competed for Britian. And that terrible swimmer, Eric Moussambani, who was from Equatorial Guinea and competed for his country. He had never seen a 100m pool before. It’s quite a different thing to both country shop and sport shop to find any Olympic event to make it to the Olympics. She had previously been trying to make it in Skeleton for Venezuela, but that wasn’t working out so she switched countries and sports.

This has nothing to do with her race/color. The only people who raise the notion that her detractors are “picking on her” because she is white are actually the ones who are only supporting her because she is white.

This woman has the right to compete and she did.

Stop your whining, you stupid Americans.

inthepdx wrote:

Methuser wrote:

However, watch the video of her run. I guarantee over 99% of the world population could not throw on some skis and do exactly what she did.

1% of the population still leaves about 35 million women capable of this feat.

This post makes me happy.

Methuser wrote:

However, watch the video of her run. I guarantee over 99% of the world population could not throw on some skis and do exactly what she did.

Grab a beer some weekend, sit at the bottom of a half pipe at a ski resort, and watch every bro do exactly what she just did. You would be surprised how many just "better than" average skiers or boarders can actually clear the lip on a half pipe.

The winter olympics have turned into a joke. I feel bad for the true athletes who are still competing there.

FormerTree wrote:

[quote]Methuser wrote:

Grab a beer some weekend, sit at the bottom of a half pipe at a ski resort, and watch every bro do exactly what she just did. You would be surprised how many just "better than" average skiers or boarders can actually clear the lip on a half pipe.

Someone who gets it!

Americans are bad sports wrote:

This woman has the right to compete and she did.

Stop your whining, you stupid Americans.

She didn't compete at all. The half-pipe is all about aerial tricks, Cassie Sharpe did back to back 900's and finished with a cork 1080 to win gold. This woman didn't do a single trick at the Olympics or in any event leading up to the Olympics. She was not there to compete, for Hungary, Venezuela, or any country.

Just because someone can do something doesn't mean they should.

As someone who skis a lot, I woudl say this is the equivalent of a 8:00 in the 1500 on the track (noted above). Pick any day. Go to copper mountain, ask skiers to come to the pipe and, after a few tries, you would have hundreds that could do what she did. That's one day, one ski resort.

John Utah wrote:

As someone who skis a lot, I woudl say this is the equivalent of a 8:00 in the 1500 on the track (noted above). Pick any day. Go to copper mountain, ask skiers to come to the pipe and, after a few tries, you would have hundreds that could do what she did. That's one day, one ski resort.

Imagine the hundreds of furious 13:00-13:10 Kenyan and Ethiopian 5000m runners watching the Olympics and World Championships every year.

I agree with the outrage on this. The same goes on in the summer Olympics, with clowns who have a PR that is more than 4 minutes slower than the 500th best time ever run, and 6 minutes slower than the 100th best PR in the world running in th olympics. Just because you are the third best in your country and can run within 15 minutes of the world record, you can somehow call yourself an Olympian. They should change the rules so the actual best runners run, and remove the arbitrary "only three from a country" rule.

Good for the Gander wrote:

John Utah wrote:

As someone who skis a lot, I woudl say this is the equivalent of a 8:00 in the 1500 on the track (noted above). Pick any day. Go to copper mountain, ask skiers to come to the pipe and, after a few tries, you would have hundreds that could do what she did. That's one day, one ski resort.

Imagine the hundreds of furious 13:00-13:10 Kenyan and Ethiopian 5000m runners watching the Olympics and World Championships every year.

Hundreds? Only two Kenyans broke 13:10 last year. The rest move up to the roads and make $$$$$$$$$.

A little research will show that she pulled the same scam to enter the 2017 World Cup Half pipe and finished last, 24th.

I think you are confusing a last place finish with a ranking.

Double_Standard wrote:

I agree with the outrage on this. The same goes on in the summer Olympics, with clowns who have a PR that is more than 4 minutes slower than the 500th best time ever run, and 6 minutes slower than the 100th best PR in the world running in th olympics. Just because you are the third best in your country and can run within 15 minutes of the world record, you can somehow call yourself an Olympian. They should change the rules so the actual best runners run, and remove the arbitrary "only three from a country" rule.

I thought there were Olympic standards in most events.

Slightly off topic:

I admit that I'm getting a little tired of all the hype for under-dog athletes from Jamaica, etc, but you know what? The Olympics is one why-can't-we-all-just-get-along-liberal-touchy-feely idea that actually DELIVERS on it's basic premise! ... and credit must be given where credit is due!

One goal of the Olympics is to bring ALL the countries into peaceful competition and show the world that we're really all made of the same stuff - and it delivers on that in a YUGE way ... and if I have to watch some burka-clad woman from Saudi Arabia run the 100 meters in 15 seconds, then I'm willing to pay that price because it's worth it.

false premise......... wrote:

A scam is a dishonest scheme or fraud. She did neither. She also didn't swindle, cheat, deceive, trick, dupe, hoodwink, or double-cross anybody. She fairly competed in all the events and earned a rank set forth by certain rules and regulations. No skier ranked higher was either eligible or able to take their place at the competition. If she didn't take her rightful spot, it would have went to the next ranked skier behind her.

For future reference, the OP put the word scam in quotations. This is done when the author doesn't agree with the use of the term, so, that clearly the OP didn't think it was a "scam" but was asking if it was nonetheless right or wrong.

If she didn't take her "rightful spot"? She earned her spot by being able to travel the world and attend events in places like China where only 15 women showed up, two crashed so she got 13th place and none of the top athletes were there.

The women ranked just behind ES's "rightful spot" is a Canadian Rosalind Groenewoud (I think she got the last slot for the games) - you can go ahead and watch her do the half-pipe here, and decide for yourself if it would have been a bad thing if someone ranked behind ES went to the games instead of her; or just maybe someone ranked behind her would have been able to actually compete, which ES could not do. She is just shameless enough and could afford the cost to, like always, show up and inevitably finish last.

Between the ubiquitous doping, the dopey "sports" like ice dancing, and this kind of scam, it has become really difficult for me to get into the Winter Olympics.

I don't know what Olympic caliber vs "hobby half pipe" comp looks like but her run looked smooth, she didn't fall, looks Olympic enough to me.

SloweRyan wrote:

jSKI wrote:

People are upset because she is a white American girl doing this. If it were a Jamacian or Tonga athlete that grew up in America and did the same thing just to be able to compete at the Olympics, it would be celebrated.

No it wouldn't, the narrative would be why are we supposed to celebrate some novice level skier with no talent who exposed a loophole so that she could enter the Olympics ahead of other far more deserving American athletes.

Not many people are 'celebrating' her, but we are stating that she did get their by meeting the minimum performance requirements. And no, her entry did not prevent far more deserving American athletes from entering. The U.S. brought the maximum amount of athletes a country could bring. They could not send more if they wanted and her being there did not cause someone to stay home.

its not a right wrote:

She didn't compete at all. The half-pipe is all about aerial tricks, Cassie Sharpe did back to back 900's and finished with a cork 1080 to win gold. This woman didn't do a single trick at the Olympics or in any event leading up to the Olympics. She was not there to compete, for Hungary, Venezuela, or any country.

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part."

- Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin

lollerama wrote:

I'm actually more amazed at the first paragraph of the article:

When you tune into the Olympics, you usually expect to catch a glimpse of some of the most elite athletes that the world has to offer, even if it's in some pretty bizarre sports that you didn't even know existed. (Looking at you, curling and biathlon.)

Really? Curling is a bizarre sport that a sportswriter for CBS didn't know existed? Curling is huge in many, many countries and isn't nearly as "fringe" as many of the sports in the Winter Games. It might not be a big sport in the USA, but I'm sure all of you from there are plenty aware of it, regardless. You know it exists. And biathlon is one of the most popular spectator sports in Europe, believe it or not.

Even to put biathlon in there is weird. It's been in the Games for a long, long time and even normally disinterested people around my workplace have said things along the lines of, "I liked watching that one where they ski for a while, then shoot the rifle. What is that called? That was cool."

Halfpipe skiing is one I'd call obscure. Or Nordic combined.

Half Witt wrote:

A little research will show that she pulled the same scam to enter the 2017 World Cup Half pipe and finished last, 24th.

I think you are confusing a last place finish with a ranking.

I linked to the FIS rankings, nitwit. She was ranked 34th, and it showed 40th.

No one does this, so it's barely a sport.