We’re not saying Nazgul—who apparently lives at a nearby bed and breakfast, and is owned by people “related to an event official,” per NPR—should be given a gold medal, necessarily. But certainly a bronze; he did, after all, complete the event, with Omega, the company whose cameras do finish-line imaging for the Games, releasing a picture of Nazgul crossing the threshhold with absolutely majestic form. Also, listen to this description of the “stubborn but sweet” Olympian from his owners, whose identities are being kept anonymous so as not to have the entire laser-like focus of Dog Internet beamed at their faces: “He was crying this morning more than normal because he was seeing us leaving—and I think he just wanted to follow us. He always looks for people.” He always looks for people, folks! Give the dog silver, at least. (We just looked it up, licking bronze might not be good for dogs.)
NPR, out of what we can only describe as an excess of journalistic due diligence, also quoted some of the human beings who were skiing when Nazgul broke onto the track, specifically 21-year-old Croatian skier Tena Hadzic. “I was like, ‘Am I hallucinating? I don’t know what I should do, because maybe he could attack me, bite me,” Hadzic said. She also noted that the pooch’s sudden appearance did cost her “some seconds,” adding, “It’s not that big deal, because I’m not fighting for medals or anything big. But if that happened in the finals, it could really cost someone the medals, or a really good result.” Which would be a shame that, in our humble opinions, could only be alleviated by giving Nazgul even more medals, as a treat.
