No B-roll jokes, please — have some respect. Captured in NBC footage Vulture’s photo team called “never-ending†and “so sad,†a camera took a tumble down a snowy slope at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on February 3. Small parts of the camera can be seen flying off from the sheer force of her flips and spins down the icy hill. After several rows of people failed to notice the frankly impressive display of athleticism behind them, a photographer at the bottom of the slope eventually reached out to collect the camera’s motionless body. We don’t know for sure yet whether she survived (Sony does have a camera center at the Olympics for repairs), but Vulture has asked a spokesperson for NBC Olympics to look into this sad incident.
Photography site PetaPixel identified the fallen camera as a Sony kit worth up to $8,700. Beyond that, it’s still unclear who exactly she was and why she fell. Was she dreaming of becoming an Olympic gymnast? Upset that she didn’t book Rihanna’s maternity shoot? Tired of always focusing but never being the focus? All we know is that she didn’t deserve this. If this feels oddly familiar, she wasn’t the first to fall at an event like this: Vinko Bogataj became famous when he suffered the “agony of defeat†during a failed ski jump in 1970. It didn’t end his career, and we’re hoping the same applies this time, too.