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For the Fletcher brothers, the road to the 2018 Winter Olympics is all about flying.

Bryan and Taylor Fletcher had just arrived in Norway from Finland, where their season on the World Cup Nordic combined tour had only just begun. Even though the Olympics is just a few short months away, it’s been a lifelong journey for the Steamboat-born brothers, who fell in love with ski jumping when they were four years old. The brothers sit side by side for our interview via Skype, the image on the computer screen slightly blurred by a slow internet connection, looking more like twins than brothers who are four years apart.

In Steamboat, where the 90-meter ski jump dominates the landscape, not only in downtown but in the minds of little boys with dreams of competing in the Olympics, the Fletcher brothers’ fate was sealed before they were old enough to enter grade school. Ultimately it would be Nordic Combined, a sport that involves ski jumping and cross country skiing, that was a natural fit for both boys. They both craved the competition of racing (against each other and whoever else happened to be in the field), but even more importantly, they both loved to fly.

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“Growing up in Steamboat with those jumps right downtown, it was the biggest thing in the world to me. All I wanted to do was hit those jumps, and from day one I was hooked,” Bryan says. “The feeling is just like flying. It’s the best feeling and it’s what keeps us wanting more.”

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Taylor is a little more philosophical about taking flight. “You have a fraction of a second to get it right or it’s game over. The more you try, the more likely you are to mess it up,” he says, “People compare it to swinging a golf club. It’s a very simple sport, but it can also be the most frustrating thing in the world. “

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For Bryan, 32, ski jumping and skiing were what got him through years of chemotherapy treatments when he was diagnosed with leukemia at three years old. His doctors weren’t too thrilled about the idea, but skiing was a passion his parents understood was vital to his survival. For Taylor, it was about chasing his big brother around, something he’s still doing today, at 27. “I grew up idolizing Bryan and wanted to do everything he wanted to do, so basically my path was set. I just followed him.”

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This will be their second Olympics together; the two competed in Sochi in 2014. Taylor edged out his brother for a bid in Vancouver in 2010, but both boys maintain that their competition with each other is not only healthy, but gives them both an extra edge—not to mention a little extra support on the road. “It’s an honor to be able to ski next to my brother and to have fun on the road and share these experiences with him. We’re also good training partners, always pushing each other to the edge. It’s not always pretty, but we help make each other better,” Bryan says.

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They both have their sights set on an Olympic medal, and would love nothing more than to stand on that podium together. “The experience of the Olympics is always incredible, and you can’t beat walking into the opening ceremonies with your brother. But our bigger goal is to stand on that podium together and we plan to fight for those top results,” Taylor says.

The brothers have already put up a good fight, not only for their personal best, but for their sport. In 2014, the US Ski and Snowboard Team announced they would no longer fund the Nordic Combined program. After an initial period of anger and disillusionment, the boys shifted into high gear, figuring out how to create a governing body for their sport from the ground up and solicit their own funding. In the process, they learned that Nordic Combined was not only surviving, but thriving. “It was a total scramble at first, but a lot of good has come out of it,” Bryan says. The result was the formation of USA Nordic, an organization that has rallied to support its athletes across the country and help foster programs the development level. “USA Nordic is doing a great job representing us, and has done a tremendous job picking up all the pieces and putting them all together so we can focus on the job of being an athlete and not having to also be full time fundraisers.”

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In the process of forming the organization, they canvassed programs all over the country and found over sixty clubs. “When they cut our funding, we were able to take a new approach. Instead of focusing on the top athletes, we created a development pipeline to foster those smaller clubs,” Bryan says, “What we learned is our sport is growing rapidly throughout the United States, especially compared to other sports, and now we’re able to provide support from the bottom up instead of the other way around.”

Speaking of surviving and thriving, Bryan also founded CCThrive (www.ccthrive.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring kids with cancer to “turn surviving into thriving” through stories about other survivors who went on to make their dreams come true. “When I went through chemo there weren’t a whole lot of people to look up to who had been through what I was going through,” Bryan says. While other organizations are focused on sick kids, there was nothing that looked at the bigger picture of life after cancer. We decided to form CCThrive to raise awareness and let kids know they can still reach their full potential, that you can survive and you can thrive.”

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As if being a full-time athlete, running a non-profit, and fundraising for your own sport wasn’t enough, Bryan took on another role 15 months ago when he and his wife, Nikki, became parents to daughter Ellery. “Getting used to life on the road without Ellery around makes it a little more challenging. It’s hard being away from my family and missing out on some of those moments,” he says. “But it also gives me a unique perspective on how fast she’s growing up. I am also glad I’ll have these stories I can share with her when she’s older.”

Here’s hoping that one of those stories is about the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, when Dad and Uncle Taylor made it to the top of the podium.

To support Bryan and Taylor in their Olympic bid, donate to the US Nordic team, go to www.usanordic.org. To learn more about CCThrive, visit www.ccthrive.org.

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