Wolf enters track and chases female athletes, scare at Olympics
Moments of great fright during qualifying for the women’s team sprint race at the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina: a Czechoslovakian wolf entered the track and followed the athletes to the finish line. It later approached them in search of cuddles: fortunately, the’episode turned out to be an amusing outlier. It was later discovered that the dog, named Nazgul (evidently inspired by the famous Lord of the Rings trilogy), is owned by Alice Varesco, a former Italian cross-country skier who lives about 500 meters from the track.
In the meantime, trade magazine Forbes has revealed that the highest-paid athlete at the Milan Cortina Olympics is famed Chinese skier Eileen Gu, who reportedly put $23 million in her pocket over the past 12 months through marketing moves. To this must be added about $100,000 in prize money in skiing. Although the $55,000 Gu grossed in December for winning a halfpipe event in the newly formed Snow League represents a leap from the roughly $20,000 she received for winning the World Cup, the vast majority of her earnings come from sponsorships, including Chinese brands Anta, Bosideng, Mengniu Dairy and Luckin Coffee.
They are all from the World Cup.
Eileen Gu is among the most popular athletes at the Olympics along with Jutta Leerdam: the Dutch skater is going strong on social media and her experience in Milan Cortina is further growing her follower base. In the competition, the champion of did not disappoint the fans’ expectations, winning the gold medal in the 1000 meters and silver in the 500 meters. Engaged to famous boxing youtuber Jake Paul, she has an Instagram profile of 6.2 million followers. And that’s not all: the Dutch skater has a million-dollar contract with sponsor Nike, which she also exploits during the Olympics.
Advertising is banned at the Games, except for the official sponsors of the various national teams, but Leerdam manages to circumvent the ban thanks to a trick: she wears a Nike sports bra under her race suit, and as soon as she crosses the finish line the star opens her suit, revealing her sponsor’s logo.
