While at the
University of California, Berkeley, Swaney was a
coxswain and the only woman on the championship Division I Men's Crew/Rowing team and a Pac-10 Second Team All-American. Having had Olympic ambitions since childhood, she sought to compete in
bobsleigh as a pilot for the United States, but was told she was too small to be competitive in the sport. and freestyle skiing, in which she sought to represent
Venezuela, her mother's homeland, at the
2014 Winter Olympics. She started skiing for Hungary in 2015, based on her grandparents' country of birth.
Olympic qualifying Swaney qualified for the
2018 Winter Olympics representing Hungary in
half-pipe skiing. Beginning in 2013 Swaney achieved this by attending competitions with fewer than thirty participants, As a result of Swaney's selection of competitions, she was ranked 34th in her run up to the Olympics. As a result, only four of the six women ranked within the top 20 in the world in halfpipe skiing were allowed to represent the United States in the Olympics based on the quota system. Between the quota system and injuries, Swaney's ranking of 34 granted her qualification for the Olympics. Swaney's performance was considered polarizing, with
CBS Sports writing that she scammed her way into the Olympics and calling her "mind-numbingly average." However, Swaney received support from a number of Olympians, including gold medalist
Maddie Bowman, double gold medalist
David Wise,
2028 Summer Olympics Swaney initially thought about competing in
weightlifting at the
2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She told the
San Francisco Chronicle that she became interested in the sport while training in skeleton, and focused on it during the
COVID-19 lockdown. ==Personal and professional life==