A story heavily shared this weekend claims that the man responsible for operating the Olympic Rings in Sochi was found dead today after a mishap during the opening ceremonies. Is this real or fake?
The story is satire.
The story was published by The Daily Currant, a humorous website which offers satirical stories. The fictional story published on February 8, 2014 wrote:
The man responsible for operating the Olympic Rings during last night’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Russia was found dead today.
According to local reports the body of Boris Avdeyev was found his hotel room early this morning with multiple stab wounds.
The article was heavily shared on social media websites Saturday by readers who were unaware of the humorous nature of The Daily Currant.
The “About” page on The Daily Currant clearly states that the contents are works of fiction:
Q. Are your news stories real?
A. No. Our stories are purely fictional. However they are meant to address real-world issues through satire and often refer and link to real events happening in the world.
The Olympic ring mishap was real, as one of 5 rings did not expand to join the other four during the Olympics. The New York Post reported that it was caused by a “bad command” from a stage manager, and that Russian TV broadcast a rehearsal video of the rings working correctly.
Bottom Line
The man responsible for the Olympic ring mishap at Sochi was not found dead. That story was published by the humorous website The Daily Currant.