London, September 2: A mystery Wikipedia user had overhauled the entry for Sarah Palin hours before John McCain made the surprising announcement of her selection as Republican vice-presidential nominee.

The user who made about 30 edits to the biographical article on the website worked under the name Young Trigg.

Among additions to the article were the facts that the Alaskan Governor “earned the nickname ‘Sarah Barracuda’ because of her intense play” for her high school basketball team, and that she and her father “would sometimes wake at 3am to hunt moose before school”.

Young Trigg reportedly culled many details from the book Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment on its Ear, by Kaylene Johnson.

The user also wrote about how the Governor had high approval ratings, and kept her campaign pledges.

An article from a magazine was used to highlight how Palin was willing to “take on oil companies”, and that she had “eye-popping integrity”.

Young Trigg made the last edits hours before the announcement, and the unusual activity was noted first by National Public Radio.

The promptness in the way Young Trigg made such changes in the article left many bloggers guessing that he/she was a member of the Palin family or a McCain campaign staffer.

The user, however, came up with a clarification on his/her Wikipedia page.

“I edited for a couple of hours over a five-hour span while I was reading the internet. I finished reading the Palin biography that day, went to her page, and saw a lot of "cite needed" places and thought I should improve the article and created an account to do so,” Times Online quoted Young Trigg as writing.

“I am not Sarah Palin. I am not a member of Sarah Palin’s family, or even Michael Palin’s family," he or she wrote.

“I will acknowledge that I volunteer for the McCain campaign, one of thousands of people nationwide who are working to elect the best candidate for the job. Palin was not the nominee when I made my edits, though I am certainly excited about the selection. I don’t believe I have a conflict of interest problem,” the user wrote.

Young Trigg later retired from being an active user. (ANI)