The images of Lindsey Vonn down on the snow, screaming in pain and then being airlifted off the course by helicopter after her crash at the Olympics were a stark reminder of the dangers of the downhill. So is this: Her skis didn't come off. Vonn's boots remained locked into her skis even after her pinwheeling fall at the Milan Cortina Games, pointing awkwardly in different directions as she slid to a stop in obvious agony.
The older I get, the more profoundly I appreciate that, when I'm writing about sport, I'm also writing about love. This makes perfect sense given these are mankind's two greatest inventions and the stuff we can least do without, but there's more to it than that: sport and love are both expressions of identity, creativity and devotion, pursued because they are right but also because it's impossible not to.