Husky or wolf? Dog gatecrashes team cross country to steal show at Winter Olympics

Athletes in the women's team sprint cross country were joined by an enthusiastic but unaccredited companion in Tesero as a dog stole the show at the Winter Olympics.

The furry friend, speculated to be a husky but was actually a Czechoslovakian wolfdog, wandered onto the stadium course during the race to a howling reaction from the crowd.

At the final straight, the canine found his way onto the snow and was briefly distracted by the trackside camera before trying to catch up the two competitors striving for the line.

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It then raced across the line behind Croatia’s Tena Hadzic and Argentinian Nahiara Diaz Gonzalez to rapturous cheers, greeting the exhausted skiers by sniffing out his competition.

"I was like, 'am I hallucinating?’" said Hadzic. "I don't know what I should do, because maybe he could attack me, bite me.”

Officials eventually got hold of the tail-wagging interloper but not before timekeepers preparing for a photo-finish in the race captured an image of the dog crossing the line, with the infra-red camera even getting a snap of the four-legged competitor.

TNT Sports commentator Posy Musgrave said: "We had a bonus competitor on the course there, I think there was a dog in the background - there we go!

"It has sped up the times of the last few there, getting chased down by that.”

Ian Woods added: "At the moment, the crowd are going to be entertained by this, but being chased by a wolf is no fun.

"What a beauty and it certainly looks like a wolf!

"Does anybody know this dog and if they don't, then I am volunteering to introduce him to my dog, Juror - we'll have him."

It turned out the dog, who goes by the name of Nazgul, was owned by someone related to an event official.

"He was crying this morning more than normal because he was seeing us leaving — and I think he just wanted to follow us," the owner told NPR, who was granted anonymity because of the intense media scrutiny of Nazgul's escape. "He always looks for people."

Fortunately, it was only the latter stages of qualification and not the medal race, meaning competitors and officials could laugh off the incident rather than stress over its impact on the final standings.

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"It's not that big deal, because I'm not fighting for medals or anything big," Hadzic added. "But if that happened in the finals, it could really cost someone the medals, or a really good result."

Sweden duo Joanna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist topped the standings after qualification with a time of 6:29.94, with Finland and Canada following behind in second and third.