Russian snowboarder Alexey Sobolev is quickly emerging as one of the more polarizing athletes at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. During the slopestyle qualifying round on Thursday, Sobolev decided to write his cell phone number on the back of his helmet. He had received more than 2,000 text messages by Friday morning. The 22-year-old said that most of the texts came from female fans and some of them were picture messages.
“I’ve got a collection of pictures,” Sobolev said, via USA Today’s Lindsay Jones. “It’s really boring in the Olympic Village, you know?”
The Olympic Village is boring? That’s the exact opposite of what we have heard. Anyway, Sobolev saved his favorite texts (I wonder which those could be) and said he will try to find time later in the week to respond to some of them. He also wouldn’t rule out the possibility of finding a girlfriend this way.
“Maybe!” Sobolev said. “Just having fun.”
Snowboarders will be prohibited from having any writing on their helmets on Saturday, so the texts should stop piling up.
In addition to the phone number stunt, Sobolev has also received some attention this week for the design on his board. One of the drawings features a blonde woman who is wearing a mask and holding a knife. The artwork is supposedly a tribute to the band Pussy Riot, whose members recently served jail time for speaking out publicly against Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“I’m not the designer of this board,” Sobolev said. “So, I don’t know. Just no comment.”
Putin must really hate this dude.
Photo via Instagram/Lindsay Jones
