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Dogged Pursuit

Dog rescue became an unofficial Olympic event in Sochi. From Team USA, skier Gus Kenworthy took home four pups and their mother, and snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis (above) adopted one dog, as did bobsled and skeleton communications director Amanda Bird. Hockey player David Backes was arranging multiple adoptions through Athletes for Animals, a St. Louis--based rescue he founded in 2013 with his wife, Kelly. Local shelters popped up too, the grandest being Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska's PovoDog Sochi, a facility for 250 animals that was built in eight days. The shelter opened last week even as its manager worked with Humane Society International to ship another 100 dogs to the U.S. Forget the crying bear—the smiling dog was the symbol of the 2014 Games.

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TWITTER.COM (JACOBELLIS)