Russia's Alexey Sobolev takes a jump during the men's snowboard slopestyle semifinal at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia
Here's hoping Russian snowboarder Alexey Sobolev has unlimited texting on his phone.
Sobolev competed in slopestyle qualifying on Thursday with his cellphone number written on his helmet. It was his idea of trying to get through what he called the boredom of the athletes' village on the mountain. Sobolev says he has received more than 2,000 texts since then.
After practice on Friday, he said most of the messages he has received are wishing him well in the Olympics.
"Most of the messages are good luck messages and messages from the girls," Sobolev said. "Some of the messages are not appropriate to read aloud."
Olympic rules prevent Sobolev from competing with his number on his helmet in the finals on Saturday. As far as he's concerned, his mission is already accomplished: "Everyone already knows my number."