Skier Ulrike Maier, seeking a few extra points for her World Cup standing in a routine downhill race in the final season of a career that had already brought two world championships, broke her neck last month and died. Conditions were unquestionably risky. The timer pole that she hit was controversially sited. And Maier, a consummate pro, knew the dangers. But the slope was familiar, and 67 other competitors that day survived uneventfully.
Luck is more than half of life.
German women's luge coach Sepp Lenz is back at work, hobbling on one leg. German and American lugers had another, even darker, intersection last October, when skinheads beat up medal hopeful Duncan Kennedy, who intervened in a barroom incident to protect teammate Robert Pipkins, a target because he is black. Athletes may appear to lead charmed lives, at least in triumph. But an athlete is always a citizen of the larger world, vulnerable to all its whims. American ice dancer Elizabeth Punsalan learned that last week, days before she left for Lillehammer with her husband and partner Jerod Swallow.