Olympics-womens skiing

[GGGG]

Long after my kids were grown, I was the guy who encouraged our next door neighbor's kids to play ball in our front yard. The whole neighborhood swam in our pool. But sorry, I don't see this "Olympic skier" as cute, charming or awesome. Or as an athlete. Question for all - if she was your daughter or granddaughter would you be bragging right now or be embarrassed? For me it's the latter.

Really?? 

If this was a goal of my daughter’s, and she achieved it, I would be over the moon proud. Front and center in my Team Hungary gear.

Why would you be embarrassed?

[Lennys Tap]

Really?? 

If this was a goal of my daughter’s, and she achieved it, I would be over the moon proud. Front and center in my Team Hungary gear.

Why would you be embarrassed?

What did she "achieve"? She's a grown woman who can ski down the bunny hill without falling. The athletes she "competed" against worked for years to achieve excellence. She went on Expedia and bought a plane ticket.

[Lennys Tap]

See if that was my daughter or granddaughter I would be bragging to everyone. I wouldn't go all Lavar Ball about it and try to claim that she was better than other Olympians are better than anyone for that matter. But hell yeah I would be bragging about my daughter the Olympian.

As a random bum on the internet though, I laugh at her as one of the worst Olympians in history.

If she did what she did as a joke, humorous performance art if you will, I would be standing, clapping and laughing. It works as a joke - but that's about it.

[GGGG]

What did she "achieve"? She's a grown woman who can ski down the bunny hill without falling. The athletes she "competed" against worked for years to achieve excellence. She went on Expedia and bought a plane ticket.

“I get that this was important to you, but it really wasn’t much of an accomplishment.”

[Lennys Tap]

“I get that this was important to you, but it really wasn’t much of an accomplishment.”

Daughter:"Gee, Daddy, it would be soooo cool to be on an Olympic team. Not so cool that I want to work for it, mind you, that's for suckers, but still really cool. I want it, I want it, I want it! And all I have to do is buy an airplane ticket and ski the bunny hill!"

Dad: "OMG, Princess, I'm so proud of you for wanting something soooo much. If your dream is important enough to you that you'll get on an airplane and fly 6 whole hours for it it's important to me too! Mom and I are so proud we'll even buy you the ticket! Is Daddy your BFF or what?!"

[naginiF]

Daughter:"Gee, Daddy, it would be soooo cool to be on an Olympic team. Not so cool that I want to work for it, mind you, that's for suckers, but still really cool. I want it, I want it, I want it! And all I have to do is buy an airplane ticket and ski the bunny hill!"

Dad: "OMG, Princess, I'm so proud of you for wanting something soooo much. If your dream is important enough to you that you'll get on an airplane and fly 6 whole hours for it it's important to me too! Mom and I are so proud we'll even buy you the ticket! Is Daddy your BFF or what?!"

I get the Veruca Salt angle, but what about a slightly different angle.....my kid is a pretty good hoops player and a pretty good academic.  This may change, but at 11 it looks like he'll be good enough to make his high school team but not good enough to be a D1 player.  This may also change, but it looks like he'll be academically good enough to make it into schools that are really good, but not the top tier.  If things hold course and he's able to combine his hoops skills and his academic skills to get into a school like Williams College wouldn't that be worth celebrating?  He'd be playing a sport against lower competition but using it to get into an arena that otherwise would be out of his reach.

Maybe her goal is the olympics but maybe the olympics open up other opportunities for her.  I'd be proud either way.

Now if my kid took a full ride at SW Missouri St for hoops instead of a quarter scholarship at Williams because he'd be BMOC at SW MO i'd be pissed.

[forgetful]

What did she "achieve"? She's a grown woman who can ski down the bunny hill without falling. The athletes she "competed" against worked for years to achieve excellence. She went on Expedia and bought a plane ticket.

To be completely fair, the halfpipe is far more difficult than a "bunny hill."  The majority of us on Scoop could not have stayed upright on the skis through an entire half-pipe run like hers. 

She did set a goal.  It was a difficult goal.  She achieved it.  For that she should be applauded.

The system will be changed in the future to stop people from gaming the process by cherry picking poorly attended competitions. 

I do not like the fact that a person so can exploit weak country requirements to compete.  You should only be able to compete for nations you are a citizen, or permanent resident of.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Daughter:"Gee, Daddy, it would be soooo cool to be on an Olympic team. Not so cool that I want to work for it, mind you, that's for suckers, but still really cool. I want it, I want it, I want it! And all I have to do is buy an airplane ticket and ski the bunny hill!"

Dad: "OMG, Princess, I'm so proud of you for wanting something soooo much. If your dream is important enough to you that you'll get on an airplane and fly 6 whole hours for it it's important to me too! Mom and I are so proud we'll even buy you the ticket! Is Daddy your BFF or what?!"

Who says she didn't work at it? I have no idea if she did or not. Maybe she did but is not gifted athletically. Maybe she worked just as hard as some of the Olympians but didn't have their natural talent or physical gifts. No idea.

[Lennys Tap]

Who says she didn't work at it? I have no idea if she did or not. Maybe she did but is not gifted athletically. Maybe she worked just as hard as some of the Olympians but didn't have their natural talent or physical gifts. No idea.

Whatever contortions you want to go through in your head to make this praiseworthy instead of laughable, TAMU, but I don't believe for a minute she worked from dawn to dusk for years to be able to remain upright on skis for a couple of minutes any more than I believe the moon is made out of green cheese - but MAYBE it is!

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Whatever contortions you want to go through in your head to make this praiseworthy instead of laughable, TAMU, but I don't believe for a minute she worked from dawn to dusk for years to be able to remain upright on skis for a couple of minutes any more than I believe the moon is made out of green cheese - but MAYBE it is!

I don't believe for a minute that she worked from dawn to dusk for years either.

But I also don't believe that all other Olypmians do that either. As was pointed out earlier in this thread, there are some pretty unremarkable performances in every sport. Its just easier for us with untrained eyes to pick out this woman because it is so obvious. I do believe that this woman worked at it, and more than the average bear, and found a legal way to make the Olympics. As long as she was doing it with her own money and she didn't take a spot from a more worthy athlete, I couldn't care less.

But again, as a random bum on the internet, I think this is laughable. I was responding to your question about if I would be embarrassed if my daughter did this. Which for me is no (unless she did it all on my dime!)

[wadesworld]

Who cares?  She didn't block a more deserving skier from the opportunity to compete in the Olympics.  She did nothing wrong.

[GGGG]

Daughter:"Gee, Daddy, it would be soooo cool to be on an Olympic team. Not so cool that I want to work for it, mind you, that's for suckers, but still really cool. I want it, I want it, I want it! And all I have to do is buy an airplane ticket and ski the bunny hill!"

Dad: "OMG, Princess, I'm so proud of you for wanting something soooo much. If your dream is important enough to you that you'll get on an airplane and fly 6 whole hours for it it's important to me too! Mom and I are so proud we'll even buy you the ticket! Is Daddy your BFF or what?!"

Well of course you are completely wrong about how easy this was for her and apparently about her personality as well.  Again, this is the article I posted earlier.

https://sports.yahoo.com/liz-swaney-worst-olympian-actually-might-best-012747577.html

If she was my daughter, I would be damn proud of her.

[Lennys Tap]

Who cares?  She didn't block a more deserving skier from the opportunity to compete in the Olympics.  She did nothing wrong.

"Who cares?" and "She did nothing wrong" are totally defensible positions. I disagree slightly because to me her participation mocks every athlete there who made it through hard work rather than a loophole. We can agree to disagree. What I don't understand are people who think this story is "charming" or "awesome" or would be "over the moon proud" if their daughter pulled a stunt like this. That floors me.

[GGGG]

"Who cares?" and "She did nothing wrong" are totally defensible positions. I disagree slightly because to me her participation mocks every athlete there who made it through hard work rather than a loophole. We can agree to disagree. What I don't understand are people who think this story is "charming" or "awesome" or would be "over the moon proud" if their daughter pulled a stunt like this. That floors me.

Because I'm not a wet blanket like you?

[Lennys Tap]

Well of course you are completely wrong about how easy this was for her and apparently about her personality as well.  Again, this is the article I posted earlier.

https://sports.yahoo.com/liz-swaney-worst-olympian-actually-might-best-012747577.html

If she was my daughter, I would be damn proud of her.

You know what, Sultan - you're right. I read the initial article about her but not this one. After reading it, I confess to being charmed a bit by this modern day female version of Don Quixote. Her "dreams" are all over the place and she seems obsessive to me but I have to tip my cap to the effort she put into becoming an Olympian. As a parent, I guess I'd be proud - but I'd also wish she'd use her boundless energy for loftier goals than being on a cooking show, being an NBA dance teamer or becoming the worst Olympic half pipe skier in history. But you're only young once - perhaps in the future she'll put those degrees from Berkley and Harvard to better use. In the meantime, a tip of the hat to her and apologies to you, Mike, TAMU and others who defended her.

[wadesworld]

"Who cares?" and "She did nothing wrong" are totally defensible positions. I disagree slightly because to me her participation mocks every athlete there who made it through hard work rather than a loophole. We can agree to disagree. What I don't understand are people who think this story is "charming" or "awesome" or would be "over the moon proud" if their daughter pulled a stunt like this. That floors me.

Because it's clear she's not one of the best skiers in the world yet she still can call herself an Olympian for the rest of her life.  That is friggin awesome.  And because it was absolutely hysterical to see people launching themselves 20+ feet into the air and doing flips and then she follows it up by basically just rocking back and forth down the half pipe.  That was one of the funniest things I've seen in a very long time.

[GGGG]

You know what, Sultan - you're right. I read the initial article about her but not this one. After reading it, I confess to being charmed a bit by this modern day female version of Don Quixote. Her "dreams" are all over the place and she seems obsessive to me but I have to tip my cap to the effort she put into becoming an Olympian. As a parent, I guess I'd be proud - but I'd also wish she'd use her boundless energy for loftier goals than being on a cooking show, being an NBA dance teamer or becoming the worst Olympic half pipe skier in history. But you're only young once - perhaps in the future she'll put those degrees from Berkley and Harvard to better use. In the meantime, a tip of the hat to her and apologies to you, Mike, TAMU and others who defended her.

Well I do agree with that.  She reminds me a lot of a friend I have who has all sort of these great ideas, many of which don't work out.  Except she did complete the Ironman last year after only starting to run 10 years ago.

I think she would drive me crazy if I were married to her, but I think the world would be a better place with more people like her.

[jsglow]

You made me curious.  I was an average HS swimmer -- maybe if we're being charitable, "slightly above average."  I only swam for two years, and never swam outside the HS season.  I just checked the results from Rio.  There weren't many, but there were a couple swimmers in Rio that I could have beat.

My guess is that this happens all the time; it's just that we rarely see it.  This one happened to go viral because, let's face it, it's a hell of a lot funnier watching this incompetent half-pipe run than it is watching a slow swimmer.

Chick was being quite modest in her post.  She was darn good.  Like really good.  Simply chose not to commit herself to the sport beyond HS.  Something to be said for 'having a life'.

[StillAWarrior]

You know what, Sultan - you're right. I read the initial article about her but not this one. After reading it, I confess to being charmed a bit by this modern day female version of Don Quixote. Her "dreams" are all over the place and she seems obsessive to me but I have to tip my cap to the effort she put into becoming an Olympian. As a parent, I guess I'd be proud - but I'd also wish she'd use her boundless energy for loftier goals than being on a cooking show, being an NBA dance teamer or becoming the worst Olympic half pipe skier in history. But you're only young once - perhaps in the future she'll put those degrees from Berkley and Harvard to better use. In the meantime, a tip of the hat to her and apologies to you, Mike, TAMU and others who defended her.

That article also changed the way I looked at her.  I think she was sincere, and I think that she genuinely made her best effort to become a freestyle skier.  She's not talented, but I don't think it was a goof and she wasn't trying to make a mockery of the event.  The Don Quixote comparison is apt.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Well....she wasn't the worst thing on snow or ice this Olympics:

https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/streaker-in-tutu-crashed-winter-olympics-2018.html

[GGGG]

Well....she wasn't the worst thing on snow or ice this Olympics:

https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/streaker-in-tutu-crashed-winter-olympics-2018.html

I would not be proud if this were my son.