Ever watched the Winter Olympics and thought ‘I could do that’? Honestly, we all have, but it’s rarely said with any conviction given the talent required to compete in the Games whether it be soaring through the skies in the snowboard Big Air competition or hurtling down the bobsleigh run at 80mph with your face scraping the ice beneath millimetres beneath you.

But in Elizabeth Swaney, an American skier competing for Hungary in Pyeongchang, the public suddenly have a new hero that has proven anyone can achieve their dream if they go about the right way of reaching it.

The 33-year-old finished Monday’s ski halfpipe qualifiers in last, and it was the sight of her rocking back and forth on the snow, not performing any tricks and achieving minimal air off the ramp, that captured the eye of those watching.

Winter Olympics crashes and falls Show all 18 1 /18 Winter Olympics crashes and falls Winter Olympics crashes and falls Xu Mengtao Xu Mengtao of China crashes in the freestyle skiing Reuters Winter Olympics crashes and falls Alex Tilley Britain's Alex Tilley crashes during the Women's Giant Slalom 1st run EPA Winter Olympics crashes and falls Aimee Fuller Aimee Fuller of Great Britain crashes in the Snowboard Ladies' Slopestyle Final Getty Images Winter Olympics crashes and falls Samantha Wells Samantha Wells of Australia falls off balance in the freestyle skiing Winter Olympics crashes and falls Elise Christie Elise Christie of Great Britain crashes during the Ladies' 500m Short Track Speed Skating final on day four of the games Getty Winter Olympics crashes and falls Yuto Totsuka Japan's Yuto Totsuka falls during run 2 of the final of the men's snowboard halfpipe at the Phoenix Park AFP/Getty Winter Olympics crashes and falls Emily Sweeney Emily Sweeney of the US recovers after her crash in the women’s singles luge competition Reuters Winter Olympics crashes and falls Emily Sweeney Sweeney’s crash as it happened BBC Winter Olympics crashes and falls Pavel Trikhichev Russia's Pavel Trikhichev falls during the Men's Alpine Combined Downhill AFP/Getty Winter Olympics crashes and falls Samuel Girard Samuel Girard of Canada falls during a short track speed skating event Reuters Winter Olympics crashes and falls Mikhail Kolyada Mikhail Kolyada from Russia stumbles during his routine in the figure skating Getty Winter Olympics crashes and falls Denis Spitsov Russia's Denis Spitsov, Russia's Andrey Larkov and Norway's Simen Hegstad Krueger recover following a collision during the men's 15km + 15km cross-country skiathlon AFP/Getty Winter Olympics crashes and falls Emina Malagich, Petra Jaszapati, Charlotte Gilmartin Emina Malagich from Russia, Petra Jaszapati of Hungary and Charlotte Gilmartin of Great Britain crash during the Ladies 500m Short Track Speed Skating qualifying Getty Winter Olympics crashes and falls Shoko Ono Shoko Ono of Japan falls on top of Dominique Ruegg of Switzerland during the Women's Ice Hockey Preliminary Round Getty Winter Olympics crashes and falls James Woods James Woods revealed his first round crash gave him ‘mega-whiplash’ Getty Winter Olympics crashes and falls Elise Christie The 27-year-old British speedskater suffered a second fall in the 1500m that severely injured her ankle. Getty Winter Olympics crashes and falls Kevin Rolland of France crashes in the Men's Ski Halfpipe Final REUTERS Winter Olympics crashes and falls South Korea's Lim Hyojun crashes during the Men's 500m Speed Skating Quarter-Final AFP/Getty Images

Was this the wrong person? Had Swaney been replaced at short notice by a complete stranger who had never skied before and everyone forgot to tell the commentators?

No, it was Swaney alright. She reached the 2018 Winter Olympics through a combination of cunning, awareness and exploitation of a sheer lack of female halfpipe skiers. Qualification for the Olympics involves achieving a certain number of top-30 World Cup finishes, and Swaney ensured she achieved 13 of them by simply turning up and competing at events where there were fewer than 30 athletes competing.

Despite finishing in an unsurprising last place on Monday and failing to reach Tuesday's final, Swaney quickly became an overnight social media sensation, as you can see below.

In every event, Swaney finished either last or within a couple of places of last. At last December’s World Cup in China, a depleted field allowed Swaney to finish 13th out of 15 competitors due to the sport’s biggest names competing at the Grand Prix at Copper Mountain and the Dew Tour at Breckenridge. By ensuring that she did not crash, Swaney achieved enough finishes to qualify for the Olympics and have her moment in the limelight.

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Becoming the first person to represent Hungary in skiing, Swaney hopes that her presence in Pyeongchang will help inspire a new generation. “I want to inspire others in Hungary and the world to become involved in freestyle skiing,” she said. “Maybe perhaps I’m the bridge to those who want to get started in the life of freestyle skiing and I want to show people that, yeah, it’s possible to get involved in freestyle skiing through a variety of backgrounds.”

Swaney completed jump after jump without performing a trick in the ski halfpipe (Getty)

But she could be the first and last to exploit the qualification system in such a way. FIS ski halfpipe judge Steele Spence has confirmed that plans are already in place to alter the qualification process, and while Swaney would not have made the Games had she crashed, the bar set for athletes to compete at the Winter Olympics looks set to be raised.

“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,” said Spence. “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.”