On the first day of Olympic competition, Russian snowboarder Alexey Sobolev used a snowboard that's an apparent homage to the punk band Pussy Riot.
Three members of the band were jailed in 2012 for performing a song called "Punk Prayer" in a Moscow cathedral amidst anti-Putin demonstrations. They've since become a protest symbol for Putin detractors.
Sobolev's board, which he used in qualification for the slopestyle event, featured an image of a woman in a ski mask, the band's signature.
He didn't say whether it was a protest or not, telling the AP, "I wasn't the person who designed it."
But, rather cryptically, he told R-Sport, "Anything is possible."
It looks like a Pussy Riot allusion:
Wow, Russische (!) snowboarder Alexei Sobolev komt naar Sotsji met een Pussy Riot-board. http://t.co/VCPvyMem1hpic.twitter.com/QkUsKpnFq3
— Jo bdew it (@JobdeWit) February 6, 2014The band:
Whether or not we'd see protests from athletes, specifically related to Russia's anti-gay propaganda law, was one of the biggest questions going into the Sochi games.
This is the first sign of it.
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