Update on 2/8/22: The camera survived!

The 2022 Winter Olympics are just beginning in Beijing, but there’s already an unusual injury making the rounds and causing Twitter to collectively cringe. On Thursday, February 3, the NBC Olympics tweeted a video of a dropped camera taking a long tumble down a hill—roughly 200 feet worth of tumble on ice. The camera, which appears to be a Sony mirrorless (Petapixel later reported it was a $6,500 Sony A1 with a 24-70mm GM lens), tumbled past several photographers with their lenses turned the opposite direction before one finally saw what was happening and intervened, ending the poor camera’s Olympic dreams.

The Tweet was accurately paired with the caption: “noooooooooooooooooooooooo.”

The video of the dropped camera at the Winter Olympics has already garnered more than 125k views after just five hours. Several re-Tweeted the videos in shared sympathy, while others humorously scored it’s run down the hill. Others noted that the tumble could have created a dangerous situation for others on the slope.

[Read: Sony A1 Review: A Furiously Fast Frame]

The Tweet didn’t clarify how the camera fared (hopefully the memory card remained intact) but black pieces are seen flying off during the video, as the strap wraps around the camera lens. Sony’s full frame camera bodies typically cost between $2,000 and $6,500, not including the cost of a lens. This dropped camera at the Winter Olympics was stopped by another photographer juggling his own two cameras as he stooped to snatch up the runaway one.

Thankfully, several camera brands have services including repair and rental from the Olympics’ Main Press Center. This year, Sony is also among them after first joining as an official provider in the Summer 2021 Olympics. This year’s center is slated to have 250 Sony cameras and 600 Sony lenses on hand.

[Read: Sony Alpha 7C Review: The Lab Test Results Are In]

The opening ceremony for the Olympics isn’t until February 4, but competition began on Feb. 2 and is expected to continue through February 20.

Featured image rendering courtesy of Petapixel