There are some moments at the Olympics that are unforgettable. They are moments you would rather not have experienced.
On the day of the opening ceremony at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics I sat enthralled watching the speed of the lugers as they flew by. The scraping sound of their sleds on ice could only be described as cold and cutting, but it was addictive. It was thrilling.
And then something terrible happened.
Twenty-one-year old Nodar Kumaritashvili from Georgia lost control on the final bend, and at about 143 kilometres an hour he was thrown off his sled and over the side wall of the track. He collided with an unprotected metal pole. Medics arrived at the scene quickly. The event was televised.
There was a heaviness and a silence at the track as he was airlifted to hospital and later pronounced dead.
It was a lesson in the seriousness of what these winter sport athletes do. A split second can change a life forever, and sadly, in rare instances, end it.
The impact of that moment reverberated around the Olympic village and throughout Georgia. The team marched in the opening ceremony with black armbands, a black ribbon tied to the national flag and a space left between athletes where Nodar would have marched. They got a standing ovation. Tears were shed.
The then International Olympic Committee president, Jacques Rogge, paid tribute to the young Georgian athlete who had come to the games seeking the same dream they all seek, with it so tragically denied. There was a moment of silence with both the Olympic and Canadian flags lowered to half-mast.
During competition not a single athlete went down the course without thinking of the Georgian who was missing. Germany's Felix Loch, then 20 years old, won the gold medal, which he had melted down and re-cast into two inscribed with Nodar's image, personally travelling to Georgia to give one of them to Kumaritashvili's parents.
This past weekend in Beijing another Kumaritashvili slid down the luge track at a winter Olympics — Nodar's cousin, Saba.
"Nodar is one of the reasons I'm in luge," Saba told the Olympic News Service.
"I wasn't afraid. I wanted to be in the Olympics to race.
"I think about Nodar. I think about him all the time. Everyone in my family is in luge. After Nodar, I didn't want luge to die in Georgia. I wanted to keep it going."
Nodar's grandfather introduced the sport to Georgia and built the first track in the country. His father and uncle both competed, his uncle going on to coach Nodar and becoming head of the Georgian Luge Federation.
Saba carried that family history, and Nodar's memory, into the luge competition this weekend. He finished in 31st place, but for those watching on in Georgia it was as sweet as victory.
Meanwhile, the German who donated half his gold medal to the Kumaritashvili family back in 2010, Felix Loch, was also back in the Olympic arena, chasing a third Olympic title now aged 32. He finished in fourth position, with his compatriot Johannes Ludwig taking gold.
"I'm happy he's here," Felix Loch said of Saba, "He's here on the track and it's great to see. It takes a lot of courage for Saba to be here.
"He likes the sport, like his cousin. It's great to see him sliding for the whole luge family. It's a great sign for the sport. It shows you what sport can do."
The moment that forever linked Loch to the Kumaritashvilis still runs deep inside the German.
"It's emotional. I walked there in Georgia, and I felt really welcome there. I think it was the right thing to do, to go there."
These are the stories that give meaning to the Olympic games.
And it's athletes like Saba Kumaritashvili and Felix Loch who give meaning to what it means to be an Olympian.
