The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Rachel Bachman in a front-page piece reports several U.S. Olympians, including skier GUS KENWORTHY and snowboarder LINDSEY JACOBELLIS, are among those "trying to adopt" stray dogs in Sochi. A USOC spokesperson "didn't have a tally" of the number of athletes hoping to take dogs back to the U.S. However, based on athletes' Twitter accounts, "many are eager to scoop them up." U.S. men's hockey C DAVID BACKES indicated that players from the U.S., Canada and Slovenia "have been looking into the feasibility of bringing dogs home from Russia with them." Bachmann notes Aeroflot reportedly had "offered to fly Sochi strays to the U.S. for free." But an Aeroflot spokesperson said that the airline was "still working out logistical challenges" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/19).
NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT: Norwegian skier AKSEL LUND SVINDAL withdrew from his final scheduled event in Sochi and said, "There's a lot of athletes that have some kind of allergy against something here. I think it's something from the concrete that's in the air, like some fine dust." Svindal indicated that "a number of other Olympians" are having an allergic reaction. Norwegian Alpine Sports Dir CLAUS RYSTE "explained the particulars of the ailment," including "itchy eyes," "runny nose" and "disrupted sleep." Ryste: "You're not very sick, but it steals your energy" (TORONTO STAR, 2/19).
A WING & A PRAYER: NBC's JIMMY FALLON during his debut as "Tonight Show" host on Monday "took a jab" at Bronze Medal-winning U.S. bobsledder STEVEN HOLCOMB. Fallon when he awarded his own Olympic medals named Holcomb "most likely to find an old hot wing in his pocket." Holcomb yesterday told NBC's DAN PATRICK, "I actually did offer Jimmy a (bobsled) ride at the beginning of the season and he declined. He said he was scared" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/19).
BARE-KNUCKLE FIGHTER: Gold Medal-winning snowboarder SAGE KOTSENBURG appeared on CBS’ “Late Show” last night to discuss the Sochi Games. Kotsenburg sat down on-stage and said, "I'm jonesing, I'm feeling pretty good." He said of the slopestyle course, “It’s definitely a big boy course. It definitely separated the men from the boys. ... There were a few minor things that needed to be changed.” CBS' David Letterman asked, “What kind of stuff is minor to you in this event?” Kotsenberg replied, "They moved the knuckles up a little bit.” Letterman: “Oh, I hate that! Don’t you?” (“Late Show,” CBS, 2/18).
