ROSA KHUTOR, Russia -- Russian snowboarder Alexey Sobolev crashed near the end of his second run at Thursday morning’s slopestyle qualification round at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.

However, not all of the questions from reporters afterward were about his performance.

After his run, he held up his board in the finish area, waiting for his scores, and quite visible to the TV cameras was a design on his snowboard of a knife-wielding woman wearing a ski mask, which is what the members of the feminist punk rock band Pussy Riot wear when they perform.

Some Russian reporters asked if this was a gesture of support for the controversial Russian group.


In December, two Pussy Rock band members were released from prison under an “amnesty law,” after they had been incarcerated on a charge of hooliganism in connection with a performance in the winter of 2012 in which the band denounced Russian President Vladmir Putin.

Russian journalist Nataliya Vasilyeva of the Associated Press tweeted that she spoke to Sobolev after the snowboarding event and that he would not confirm if he supported Pussy Riot.

The Russian news agency R-Sport earlier asked Sobolev if the design was an “homage” to the band.

“Anything is possible,” Sobolev told R-Sport, also telling the reporter that he was not the designer of the board.


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