The Olympics are a celebration of instants: not just in the milliseconds ticking away on every scoreboard in the Savoie but in the larger way in which 15 years of determination can turn on a single moment. Look away from the slope for an instant, touch the side of the run for a second, and 10,000 hours of practice are gone. The athletes carry alarm clocks -- or time bombs -- in their heads and measure their lives in heartbeats (193 a minute for a biathlete). "Luge is all feeling," explained Duncan Kennedy, an American luger who won by placing 10th...
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