They were all established capable climbers before they earned a reputation free soloing. That's not really true in this case. I mean, every year there are inexperienced climbers who die, but comparing them to the masters is like comparing some kid with a spoiler on his Honda civic who loses control and hits a tree to a professional formula 1 driver.
What I'm saying is there may have been other great climbers that we just don't know about because they happen to have one small slip early in life.
Survivorship bias needs to be taught in schools at a young age, like in kindergarten. It's so insidious.