Olympic brothers in arms

Iconic sports stories need two chief protagonists. Coe and Ovett, Borg and McEnroe, Prost and Senna, Ali and Frazier – rivalries that have echoed down the ages. One of the great tales to be told at the London Olympics of 2012 involves two men at the top of their sport who are not only the leading contenders for a gold medal, but also happen to be brothers.

Where Alistair and Jonny Brownlee differ from the great duellists of the past is that they are not only brothers but best friends.

They have on occasion worked as a team to reach the very top of the world in the predominently individually-minded sport of triathlon.

There has even been suggestion from an Olympics-obsessed media that these two young men from Leeds will breast the tape side-by-side at this summer’s Olympic triathlon in Hyde Park, so rewriting history by sharing the gold medal.

Even for brothers who live together, train together and are all-but inseparable, that fairytale outcome to one of the most eagerly-anticipated events of the summer Games is a romantic notion. For in the cauldron of sport, a winner’s instinct takes over, and that is where these two boundary-breaking brothers compare so readily with those famous names of the past.

“It could happen but it is very unlikely to happen,” says Alistair, the eldest of the two. “If we got this close to the line,” he says, leaning forward out of his chair to even now get an edge over his younger brother, “we’d both be sprinting to get to it first.”

Jonny picks up the baton. “The chances of it happening are so, so remote. It’s a nice notion but we’ve not thought about it or discussed it.”

As a two-time world and European champion, 23-year-old Alistair is the favourite to win gold at London 2012.

Jonny, 21, like any younger brother, is in awe of his elder sibling.

He followed Alistair into triathlon at the age of nine, by which time the elder Brownlee was honing his talents as a cross-country runner, a discipline he would be a county champion at multiple times.

He then followed Alistair into the world of junior triathlon in their mid to late teens.

Alistair has always led, competing in Beijing as a wide-eyed young man, before taking the triathlon world by storm with his first global title in 2009.

But with Jonny finishing second in both the European Championships and World Series to his brother in 2011, the gap is narrowing.

The two boys have always played sport, competing with and against each other.Whether at Bradford Grammar School, or for the sports clubs they have represented throughout the county, they have progressed through the ranks courtesy of a rivalry that is forever raising the bar.

Even something as trivial as a game of Twister on the living room floor of their Bramhope home sparks a nudge here and a sideswipe there as each attempts to get the upper hand.

Jonny is king of the games console, taunting his elder brother as he robs of him of possession on the latest Fifa football game.

But where it matters most, Alistair reigns supreme, and for that reason, all the pressure is on him.

Family matters for both these admirable young men, but so does winning.

“Sport is one of those things where you do it for yourself,” says Alistair. “You put hundreds and thousands of hours into that moment and to be pipped by whoever, however, at the finish line would be pretty galling. Jonny is definitely the next best person to win. That would be fantastic.

“And then if both of us get on the podium – if he pips me and I come second – then that would be an incredible result.

“That would be something really, really special.”

The Brownlee brothers are re-drawing the triathlon landscape.

People have been running, cycling and swimming triathlons since the 1920s. It did not become an Olympic sport until 2000 and is only now becoming fashionable as more people participate, particularly middle-class professionals. The recognition being given to the Brownlees on the eve of a home Olympics can only heighten that interest.

The Yorkshire brothers are happy to be the face of the sport, particularly if their role in London helps it grow. But they are wary of the spotlight and the burdens it might bring.

“You can get caught up in promoting the sport,” says Alistair, “But then if that means you can’t walk down the street or go to the supermarket without being asked for an autograph, or go to the pub without anyone asking you for a picture, then I probably wouldn’t welcome the fame or notoriety.

“I’m pretty confident that triathlon will not get to the level of say cycling, which has really taken off in recent times. That’s a long way off.

“We don’t do this for the recognition. That rings true for most sports, but especially with triathlon which is so intrinsic.

“You put yourself through so much that it’s all about yourself, really. I hope people are still talking about triathlon and ourselves after London.

“Having gone through the process of qualifying the year before in front of thousands of people in London, then being called favourites – hopefully that will get people involved in triathlon.

“There’s talk of a million people lining the route on the day. I can’t see that not having a big effect on triathlon, people wanting to have a go, participation numbers going up and more juniors coming into the sport. That would be fantastic.”

Jonny continues: “It’s become a challenge sport now. It’s something new, something different. You occasionally get celebrities doing it. There are massive participation races now. It’s definitely growing.”

Getting used to the added interest in an Olympic year is just part of the job now for the Brownlees and their fellow British athletes.

Media briefings and sponsorship days are having to be crammed into an already tight schedule.

For to be the best in any given sport, an athlete has to train harder than anyone, and it is in the art of practice makes perfect that these Yorkshire brothers are set apart from the rest.

Twenty-five to 30 hours a week of training has, in the past, been the requisite of a world-class triathlete. Yet common with everything the Brownlees put their minds to, they have raised the bar.

Alistair and Jonny train 35 hours a week. And 90 per cent of those training hours are conducted here in the West Yorkshire countryside they love so dearly.

“The surroundings we have around us have been a massive contributing factor to how well we have done,” says Jonny. “It makes training more interesting. You get people who run 30 minutes one way and then 30 minutes coming back on the other side of the road. That’s hard on the mind.

“For us we can go out and enjoy our training. A 60-minute run on the Chevin Country Park is beautiful.

“It’s also hilly which makes you strong and it’s also soft under foot so you can do more miles.

“We’ve been to places like Korea before where you’re running on roads all the time and your feet absolutely kill. You can run forever around here.”

“For the majority of training sessions we’re straight out the door here,” adds Alistair of the terrain on their doorstep in leafy Bramhope.

“A normal run from here would be down the hill towards Pool on the bridleway, across the main road, back up onto the Chevin, round the Chevin for a bit and then back into Bramhope. It’s about 12k. “That’s one of the things about triathlon – it is quite difficult to train for because you need good facilities. But you also need the countryside to be able to bike and run.

“There’s not many places where you have all that at your disposal; the facilities we use in Leeds, the countryside is on your doorstep. That’s why Leeds is so good.” Jonny chips in: “That’s the good thing about Yorkshire, we can set ourselves a ride to say Grassington and we can stop at a cafe there and ride back and it’s a four-hour ride and you’ve not noticed the time because Yorkshire is such a great place to train.”

There are times when the brothers go their separate ways. Last January, Alistair spent time at a warm-weather training camp in Tenerife to allow an ankle injury a better chance of healing. He stayed at a hotel at altitude and spent every day cycling up the mountain to reach it. He has also in the past slept in an altitude tent at his home in Yorkshire, because such a contraption reduces the oxygen at sea level which in turn helps an athlete run faster. Jonny saw his brother doing it and copied.

“We know it’s an individual sport at heart,” says Alistair. “When you’re stood on a start line, you’re racing against everyone else. That’s very clear to us and we’re both very individual about that. The important thing about spending time apart is you do just need different things, and you fancy different training. I quite like being inspired by Tenerife whereas Jonny doesn’t. He’s quite happy doing the miles anywhere.”

If they could improve anything over the months before London 2012, it would be their swimming strength.

The first part of the triathlon – before the transition into a seven-lap, 40k bike race which weaves its way in front of Buckingham Palace – is a 1.5-mile swim. This will be in the Serpentine in Hyde Park.

The swimming leg can be violent, with contestants kicking opponents or pulling them back. The brothers won’t go as far as kicking each other, so long as they are up near the front, ready to challenge in the cycling leg.

Alistair, who along with his brother, is expected to be the strongest runner in the field as they finish off with a 10k trek through Hyde Park, explains: “It would be fantastic if you were good at all three – you swam off the front, biked off the front then ran off the front and no-one ever saw you.

“But we’re not good enough swimmers to change the race in a swim, so there’s not any point in us being at the front.

“We just want to get through the swim cleanly. If that means we’re at the front, second, third, fourth or fifth, then fine.

“If you’re languishing in 12, 13th, 14th then it’s getting a bit dodgy. We just want to be in contention.”

There is another race for the Brownlees to run in this Olympic year – education. Both have dissertations to hand in in May. Alistair, who quit a degree in medicine at Girton College, Cambridge to concentrate on sport, gained a degree in physiology of sport from the University of Leeds in 2009.

Academic as well as athletic, he is now studying for a masters in finance at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Jonny is studying for a degree in history. After splitting his final year over 24 months to help ease the burden during preparation for the Olympics, he now has to hand in his dissertation around the same time as they will begin their summer triathlon programme in San Diego in May.

“I’m doing mine on Richard III,” says Jonny. “So at least I’ve got an interesting subject. But I’ve still got a lot left to do. We both have.”

It’s all part of the life of Yorkshire’s Brownlee brothers. “It’s here now,” says Jonny. “Before, 2012 was something that was talked about a lot but was a long way away. Now it’s here and we just cannot wait.”

Alistair and Jonny Brownlee are BT Ambassadors. BT is the official communications services partner for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Visit www.bt.com/london2012.