LAGO DI TESERO, ITALY — Before he became the most famous dog at the Olympics, Nazgul was not known as an escape artist. Still, his owners, Enrico and Alice Varesco, were not taking chances when they left him alone at their apartment alongside the Olympic cross-country ski trails this week.

The dog disrupted only qualifiers, not the final event. Sweden managed to win the gold medal in the final, with Switzerland taking silver and Germany winning bronze.