One man dead as Vancouver Olympic curse hits Russia

A man died and another was seriously injured in Russia last week after they hurtled themselves down a mountainside in a big plastic ball.

Writes AP: “The transparent plastic ball—known as a zorb—veered off course and sailed over a rock ledge in the rugged Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia.” 

This activity has some significance in Russia at the moment. After witnessing the stirring spectacle of 15 of the fuckers all lit up with fairy lights during the closing ceremonies of Vancouver 2010, organizers decided to adopt the zorb as a symbol for the 2014 Sochi winter games.

As the Let’s Zorb website (home of all things zorb!) reported last February, “According to the president and chief executive of the Sochi 2014 organizing committee Dmitry Chernyshenko, zorbs illustrate an open, transparent, accessible and inclusive society that is hosting the next Winter Games.”

And as debt-weary British Columbian survivors of 2010, we might also note the deeper symbolism of an ugly, plastic, out-of-control thing disappearing over the side of a cliff.