What Scares the World’s Most Daring Olympians

Injury is a constant threat in their death-defying feats. The New York Times sat down with three dozen athletes who opened up about their fears.

The Winter Olympics are a carnival of danger, a spectacle of speed and slick surfaces, powered mostly by the undefeated force of gravity.

Skiers hurtle themselves down mountains faster than cars drive on highways. Sliders ride high-speed sleds down a twisting chute of ice. Ski jumpers soar great distances through the air, and snowboarders and freestyle skiers flip and spin in the sky and hope for a safe landing.

The next wipeout always feels moments away.

The athletes who perform these daring feats are not crazy. They are not reckless. But they do have one thing in common that might surprise those of us who watch.

They are scared. Every one of them.

“When you’re going as fast as we are,” American downhill ski racer Breezy Johnson said, “anywhere on the course can turn into an injury trap, if not a death trap, really quick.”

In January, Johnson, a gold-medal favorite, was injured in a crash and announced that she was out of the Olympics.

The New York Times interviewed three dozen Winter Olympians and others with ties to the most extreme sports at the Games. We wanted to dive deep on the mental side of danger.

The first question: Does fear play a role in your sport?

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