The Olympics were invaded by a WOLFDOG named after a ‘Lord of the Rings’ villain

Imagine you train for years to have your Olympic moment. The finish line is in sight, then you’re suddenly being chased by an alarmingly large dog, who thinks it’s all just a game. That’s precisely what happened in the women’s Cross Country Skiing Sprint.

The pupper has been identified as a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, which is a wolf-dog hybrid created in 1955 as an experiment in Czechia. It’s about as close you could get to being chased by a wolf in an Olympic environment, and perhaps the best part is that because the wolfdog crossed the finish line the automated camera snapped the perfect photo.

It’s a beautiful dog/wolf, wolf/dog … wolfdog — but it turns out the pup’s owners happened to give it the most terrifying name in the world for a large dog with a propensity to chase things: NAZGHUL. These are the ring wraiths from The Lord of the Rings that stalked Frodo in an effort to get the ring and return it to Sauron.

The dog belongs to a relative of Olympics officials who were at the race, and explained by NAZGHUL got loose.

“He was crying this morning more than normal because he was seeing us leaving — and I think he just wanted to follow us,” said the owner, who was granted anonymity because of the intense media scrutiny of Nazgul’s escape. “He always looks for people.”

Dogs get loose. It happens. Nobody should be shaming Nazghul’s owners outside of the fact they named a dog Nazghul.