YANQING, China — Nodar Kumaritashvili was four curves away from Georgian Olympic history when, on that chilling day in 2010, he lost control.
One moment, he was furthering a family legacy, whizzing down a luge track, completing one last training run before the Games.
The next, he flew off his sled, over an icy wall, and into a metal pole.
He would’ve been the first Georgian luger to compete at the Olympics. Instead, he died.
Now, 12 years later, his cousin is.
Saba Kumaritashvili thought about Nodar this week, as he prepared to slide down a rock-hard track here in Yanqing.