This article was originally published in The Boston Globe. Click here to read the full article >

It was the spring of 2014, inside a packed arena in Copenhagen, and all eyes were on Katrin Davidsdottir as she looked up at a metal rig with a long rope hanging from it. None of them could believe what they were seeing.

She had come into this final event in the lead, a rising star from Iceland built better than a statue, and now women were racing up ropes all around her, finishing while she stood and stared up […]