In the middle of an Olympic cross-country ski qualifier, just as athletes pushed through the homestretch with lungs on fire, fully ready collapse in exhaustion as the cross-country skiers often do once they crossed the finish line, a new competitor sadly entered the race. That competitor was a two-year-old dog with the very cool name: Nazgul.
Nazgul. Like the Ringwraiths from The Lord of the Rings. The Dark Lord’s most feared spectral posse. Except this one was a dog chasing Olympic gold.
You Need to See This Dog Crash a Women’s Olympic Ski Race
Nazgul is a Czechoslovakian wolfdog. He broke free from a nearby bed-and-breakfast and sprinted onto the course during the women’s team sprint qualifier. Broadcast footage showed the dog galloping like a happy idiot behind skiers as the crowd shot to its feet after noticing what looked like a dire wolf chasing cross-country skiers.
He crossed the finish line like he’d been training for it for years. Maybe the best part is that Nazgul was captured by the high-speed photo finish camera.
NPR spoke to some of the skiers who had crossed or were crossing the finish line as Nazgul joined the race. Croatian skier Tena Hadzic admitted she thought she might be hallucinating. Others were simply confused. Argentina’s Nahiara Díaz González said she was too focused on finishing to process the sudden addition of a four-legged rival. Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist, who later won gold with teammate Jonna Sundling, called it something she had “never seen ever before.”
Race officials collared Nazgul and returned him safely to his owners, who are related to an event official. Speaking to NPR, the owners said Nazgul had been crying that morning after watching them leave and likely just wanted to follow. They described him as “stubborn, but very sweet.”
Thankfully, the interruption occurred during the qualifying round, not the finals. It had no impact on the results. Still, it’s fun that a beautiful dog named after Tolkien’s most famous evil servants made a joyous dash to the finish line in the middle of an Olympic race.
The post You Have to Watch This Very Good Dog Try to Win an Olympic Ski Race appeared first on VICE.
