冬奥会选手爱上流浪狗

Forget Medals, Olympians Vie For Puppy Love

冬奥会选手爱上流浪狗

Forget official Sochi Olympics merchandise. U.S. athletes at the Winter Games are corralling much more cuddly souvenirs: stray puppies.

Gus Kenworthy, the silver medalist in the 1-2-3 U.S. sweep of the men's ski slopestyle competition Thursday, spent the past two days buying kennels and leashes for a brood -- four young pooches and their mother -- he plans to bring home. The dogs had made their home under a security tent near a media center in the mountains.

Mr. Kenworthy said he visited them daily because he wasn't allowed to bring them into the athletes' village.

'When I was trying to get ready for the contest, it was kind of like a nice distraction, just something keeping my mind off it,' said Mr. Kenworthy, who lives in Denver. He says he started the adoption process more than a week ago.

'They're so cute,' he said of the floppy-eared black-and-brown mutts. 'They're my faves.'

A few days ago, Mr. Kenworthy's tweet of a photo of the four puppies snuggling in his lap became an international sensation, even inspiring a tweet from pop star Miley Cyrus: '4 reasons to follow @guskenworthy.'

Mr. Kenworthy replied to Ms. Cyrus with a reference to one of her hit songs: 'Well this just hit me like a wrecking ball. . .'

American Lindsey Jacobellis had a sour competition experience at the Games, tumbling in the snowboard cross competition in which she was a medal favorite.

But she was all smiles on a Twitter photo, scratching the chin of a black-and-tan mutt with the caption 'me and my pup.' Ms. Jacobellis has completed her adoption of the dog, including a visit to a Russian veterinarian and the purchase of a pet passport, according to her agent Josh Schwartz. She is set to head home with the pooch, which she named Sochi, on Thursday.

The population of pups here boomed because of the flood of construction workers in the area to build Olympic venues, who were feeding them. There are an estimated 2,000 strays in the Sochi area, said a spokeswoman for a recently expanded Sochi pet shelter, PovoDog.

The shelter is funded by Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire and aluminum magnate. Americans make up 90% of those contacting the shelter wanting to adopt, the spokeswoman said.

A U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman said he didn't have a tally of the athletes who are trying to adopt Sochi's strays. But based on Olympic athletes' Twitter accounts, many are eager to scoop them up.

The U.S. men's hockey team is full of bruisers who make mill

ions in the National Hockey League, but they are softies when it comes to Sochi's strays. A few hours before the team practiced Tuesday, goalie Ryan Miller tweeted a photo of a white dog with brown ears and black spots lying outside the NHL Players Association house.

'Family hotel mascot!' Mr. Miller wrote. 'Couple stray dogs have been cleaned up and adopted by players.'

David Backes, a forward on the U.S. team, said players from the U.S., Canada and Slovenia have been looking into the feasibility of bringing dogs home from Russia with them. Though it is problematic for players to collaborate with opponents during the Games, some of their wives are banding together to figure out the logistics.

'The wives are kind of creating their own alliance,' said Mr. Backes.

Some have already found shelters in the U.S. willing to take the dogs. But it is unclear whether players will be able to bring them on their charter flights home.

'It's not a short flight,' Mr. Backes said. 'To have them under the belly of the plane for a long time, we want to make sure that all makes sense, too, and that we're not putting them in any harm. There are things we need to check off that list before we go ahead with it.'

Word spread around town this week that Aeroflot had offered to fly Sochi strays to the U.S. for free, but a spokesman said the Russian airline was still working out logistical challenges. A decision would be made Wednesday on whether the airline could accommodate the dogs -- so far 10 and counting -- that people have inquired about flying to the U.S., the spokesman said.

Sochi's strays have become one of the surprise hits of these Olympics, especially with the lack of a breakout individual performance by a two-legged creature on snow or ice. The dogs also have turned a spotlight on the issue of stray animals and adoptions.

On Tuesday, the home page of the Humane Society International featured the headline 'Sochi Travesty' and posted information on how to help street dogs there and elsewhere.

'We have not seen this level of media attention devoted to the street dog issue that I can recall,' Humane Society CEO Andrew Rowan said.

Mr. Backes and his wife, Kelly, founded Athletes for Animals, a charity that promotes pet adoption. Mr. Backes, who plays for the NHL's St. Louis Blues, said he was troubled by news reports of stray dogs in Sochi before he even arrived.

'They kind of were portrayed a little bit as rabid animals that were dangerous,' he said. 'I think you've seen a lot of friendly, smart street dogs that have perhaps had a tough life and have had to find ways to get food and shelter and water.'

He wants to give them a lucky break and see them 'live in that lap of luxury that a lot of dogs in North America have.'

Mr. Kenworthy's furry bounty came along amid his search for one new puppy. About a year ago the shelter mutt he had owned for nearly half his life -- 'my best friend,' he said -- died. Mr. Kenworthy is 22 years old.

The Sochi pups seem perfectly suited to the silver medalist. In addition to being lively, each sports a burst of silver across the chest.

忘了索契冬奥会的官方纪念品吧。参加冬奥会的美国运动员对更可爱的纪念品趋之若鹜：流浪狗。

在2月13日的自由式滑雪男子坡面障碍技巧比赛中摘得银牌的格斯·肯沃西(Gus Kenworthy)过去两天都在为一窝流浪狗买狗舍和牵引带，这窝狗包括四只杂种小狗和它们的妈妈，肯沃西计划将它们带回家。这些狗之前在山区一个媒体中心附近的安保帐篷底下安了家。

肯沃西说，他每天去看望它们，因为他不能将它们带进奥运村。

家住丹佛的肯沃西说，我在为比赛做准备的时候，这是种很好的消遣，稍微转移一下我的注意力。他说，他在一周多之前开始了收养程序。

他说起这群耷拉着耳朵、棕色与黑色相间的杂种狗时说，它们太可爱了，它们是我的挚爱。

几天前，肯沃西在推特上发布了四条小狗偎在他腿上的照片，这条消息引发了国际轰动，就连流行歌手麦莉·希拉(Miley Cyrus)也发布推特消息说，这是关注肯沃西@guskenworthy的四个理由。

肯沃西以希拉一首热门歌曲的歌词来回应：它像破碎球一样击中了我……

美国选手林赛·雅各贝利斯(Lindsey Jacobellis)在冬奥会上的比赛经历令人失望，原本有望夺得奖牌的她在单板滑雪女子越野项目中摔倒。

但在推特上发布的一张照片中，她满面笑容，挠着一条黑底有棕色斑纹的杂种狗，注脚是“我和我的小狗”。据雅各贝利斯的代理人乔什·舒瓦茨(Josh Schwartz)说，她已经完成了小狗的收养程序，包括带小狗去看一位俄罗斯兽医以及购买了宠物护照。她将于周四与这条被她命名为“索契”的小狗一起回家。

由于大量建筑工人涌入这一地区修建奥运场馆时喂养了这些流浪狗，这里的流浪狗数量激增。不久前扩建的索契宠物收容所PovoDog的发言人说，索契地区估计有2,000条流浪狗。

这个收容所由俄罗斯亿万富豪、铝业巨头奥列格·德里帕斯卡(Oleg Deripaska)出资。上述发言人说，与收容所联络表示希望收养的90%是美国人。

一位美国奥林匹克委员会发言人说，他没有统计希望收养索契流浪狗的运动员数量。但从冬奥会运动员的推特账号看，很多人都渴望拥有这些狗狗。

美国男子冰球队不乏在国家冰球联盟(National Hockey League)中赚取数百万美元的彪形大汉，但他们面对索契的流浪狗时变得温柔无比。周二该队训练前几个小时，守门员赖安·米勒(Ryan Miller)在推特上发布了一张照片，其中显示一条白底黑点、棕色耳朵的狗趴在美国国家冰球联盟球员协会所住的房子前面。

米勒写道：家庭旅馆吉祥物!几只流浪狗已经被洗的干干 ，被运动员领养。

美国冰球队的前锋巴克斯(David Backes)说，美国、加拿大和斯洛文尼亚的运动员一直在研究把流浪狗从俄罗斯带回国的可行性。尽管运动员们在奥运会期间与对手合作可能成问题，但一些运动员的太太正在联合起来想办法把狗狗运回国。

巴克斯说：太太们正在组建她们自己的联盟。

一些人已经为索契流浪狗在美国找到了收容所。但不清楚运动员们是否能够带着狗狗乘专机回国。

巴克斯说：这可不是短途飞行。为了让狗狗们在货运舱里能够待很长时间，我们还希望确保一切程序都是合理的，不会使狗狗受到任何伤害。我们带狗狗回国之前，还需要做一些事情。

索契本周有传言说俄罗斯航空(Aeroflot)已经提出免费将索契流浪狗运到美国，但该航空公司的一位发言人说，该公司仍在努力解决物流方面的各种挑战。该发言人说，周三该公司将就是否能够搭载这些狗狗做出决定，目前有人询问运输事宜的流浪狗共有10只，但数量仍在增加中。

索契流浪狗出人意料地成为本届奥运会热门话题之一，特别是两足生物在冰雪项目上缺乏突破性的个人表现之际。流浪狗们还将人们的注意力引向了流浪动物和领养问题。

周二，国际人道协会(Humane Society International)主页发表了一篇题为《索契漫画》(Sochi Travesty)的文章，发布了有关如何帮助索契及其他地方的流浪狗的信息。

国际人道协会首席执行长罗恩(Andrew Rowan)说：就我所知，我们从未见过媒体对流浪狗问题投以这样大的关注。

巴克斯和太太凯莉(Kelly)创办了倡导动物领养的慈善组织Athletes for Animals。巴克斯效力于美国国家冰球联盟 路易斯蓝调队(St. Louis Blues)。他说，早在他抵达索契之前，就已经为有关索契流浪狗的新闻报道感到不安了。

他说：它们被描绘成凶猛的危险动物。我认为大家看到了很多友好、聪明的流浪狗，它们可能生活艰难，不得不想方设法找到食物、栖身之地和水。

他希望给它们提供一个机会，看着它们像北美的很多狗一样能够享受蜷在主人腿上的生活。

肯沃西对索契流浪狗的关注恰逢他在寻找一只新狗狗。大约一年前，陪伴了他近10年的流浪狗去世了。按他的说法，这只狗是他最好的朋友。肯沃西现在22岁。

这几只索契流浪狗与这位银牌得主似乎是绝配。除活泼好动外，人和狗的胸前都有一道银色。