They fell on the snow and they fell on the ice. They fell on flat tracks and steep hills. They fell on their backs and their hips and, most jarringly, at least one fell going as fast as she could.
The Olympics have long been about successes and reaching higher than anyone else. But getting to those heights sometimes means living on the edge. Even the best athletes at the Beijing Games understand that their gold medal dreams can end in an instant.
Mikaela Shiffrin found that out again on Monday. She started off too fast in the giant slalom, misjudged an early turn and fell.