me like persistent girl

...Elizabeth Swaney, a 33-year-old from California, is technically American. But  she's able to compete for Hungary because her grandparents are from  there. (She originally represented Venezuela when she first started  entering World Cup events in 2013, but she began competing for Hungary  in 2015.)

The International Ski Federation (FIS), which governs the sport, has  minimum requirements for athletes to be eligible for the Olympics. They  include finishing in the top 30 at a World Cup event and scoring a  minimum number of FIS points.

Swaney met those requirements. The field for women's halfpipe is not  very deep, so many World Cup events had fewer than 30 athletes  competing. So as long as she showed up and dropped in for a run, Swaney  was guaranteed a top-30 finish and at least a few FIS points...