Elizabeth Marian Swaney was born on 30 July 1984 and is an American and Hungarian athlete who competed for Hungary in the 2018 Winter Olympics in the women's halfpipe based on her Hungarian ancestry.
15 Facts About Elizabeth Swaney
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Elizabeth Swaney was unable to qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics for Venezuela in both skeleton and freestyle skiing, and qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics in the women's halfpipe, in which she placed last.
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Elizabeth Swaney graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007.
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Elizabeth Swaney then earned a master's degree from Harvard University in design studies with a focus on real estate.
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Elizabeth Swaney then turned to skeleton, in which she competed internationally, and freestyle skiiing, in which she sought to represent Venezuela, her mother's homeland, at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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Elizabeth Swaney started skiing for Hungary in 2015, based on her grandparents' country of birth.
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Elizabeth Swaney achieved this by attending competitions with fewer than thirty participants, with one event in China having fifteen.
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Between the quota system and injuries, Elizabeth Swaney's ranking of 34 granted her qualification for the Olympics.
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At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Elizabeth Swaney competed in the women's half-pipe, scoring 30.00 and 31.40, without using tricks in either of her two runs.
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Elizabeth Swaney placed last in the competition, 13.60 points behind Laila Friis-Salling of Denmark, who had fallen in both of her qualifying runs.
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Elizabeth Swaney seeks to qualify to represent Hungary as a powerlifter at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; she became interested in the sport while training in skeleton, and focused on it during the COVID lockdown.
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Elizabeth Swaney has worked as a technical recruiter for Thumbtack, as a barista, and as a stand-up comedian and producing tech pitch roast comedy shows.
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Elizabeth Swaney is certified as a skiing instructor and a weightlifting coach.
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Elizabeth Swaney competed in qualifiers for American Ninja Warrior in 2018 and is the Finance Director for Spinsters of San Francisco.
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In 2024, Elizabeth Swaney announced she is running for the Mayor of Oakland in the 2025 special election.