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A dog ended up being a surprise last-minute entry into an Olympic cross-country ski event this week. In the closing moments of a race, the pet ran onto the course and crossed the finish line with the skiers.
The mishap occurred on Wednesday morning during the women’s team sprint cross-country qualifying race. According to NPR, which was able to contact the dog’s owner anonymously, the dog is a two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog named Nazgul (after the Lord of the Rings villains). As the athletes were coming down the home stretch, Nazgul snuck onto the course and chased after the passing skiers.
“He was chasing the camera that goes up and down the finish line. He was cute but not aggressive,” Greek skier Konstantina Charalampidou, one of the two athletes pursued by Nazgul, told The Guardian. “I wanted to pet him, but I didn’t have the time and I couldn’t find him afterwards.”
The second skier, Croatian Tena Hadzic, was a little less enthused about the surprise competitor. “I was like, ‘Am I hallucinating?” she added. “I don’t know what I should do, because maybe he could attack me, bite me.”
“He was crying this morning more than normal because he was seeing us leaving – and I think he just wanted to follow us,” Nazgul’s owner told NPR. “He always looks for people.”
