Alexey Sobolev’s snowboard features a feminine figure wearing a ski mask — the signature look of the dissident Russian punk group.
Though he hasn't said so outright, Russian Olympian Alexey Sobolev's snowboard appears to be a tribute to Pussy Riot, the dissident Russian punk collective known for performing in ski masks. The group became internationally known after performing an anti-Vladimir Putin anthem in a Moscow cathedral, an act for which two of their members were jailed. (They were released six weeks ago.)
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"I wasn't the person who designed it," Sobolev told the Associated Press reporter who asked him if the similarity was intentional. He'll be back in competition tomorrow in the semifinals of the slopestyle event.
h/t Business Insider