Ready to Fly (film)
{{Short description|2012 American documentary film}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Ready to Fly{{Cite web|url=http://readytoflyfilm.com/filmmakers/|title = Employee Relations}}
| image = Ready_to_Fly_(documentary).jpg
| caption =
| producer = Scott A. Zeller
| writer = William A. Kerig
| starring = Lindsey Van, Jessica Jerome, Alissa Johnson, Abby Hughes, Sarah Hendrickson
| music =
| cinematography =
| editing =
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|2012}}
| runtime = 1h15
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
}}
Ready to fly is an American documentary by William A. Kerig following the true story of the fight of American women's ski jumping athletes Lindsey Van, the rest of her U.S. Women's Ski jumping Team members, Jessica Jerome, Alissa Johnson, Abby Hughes, Sarah Hendrickson and many other elite ski jumping athletes around the world to be part of the Olympic Winter Games. It was first screened during the 2013 Banff Mountain Film Festival.
Narration of the documentary is made by Diana Nyad, an American author, journalist, motivational speaker, and long-distance swimmer.{{Cite web|url=http://www.diananyad.com/diana|title=Diana – Diana Nyad – Find a Way}} Nyad first got national attention in 1975 when she swam around Manhattan island and in 1979 from the Bahamas to Florida. In 2013, at age 64, after many long-distance swimming exploits, she became the first person confirmed to swim from Cuba to Florida (180 km).{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/sports/nyad-completes-cuba-to-florida-swim.html?_r=0|title=Sharks Absent, Swimmer, 64, Strokes from Cuba to Florida|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2 September 2013|last1=Alvarez|first1=Lizette}} She swam to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Sandy.{{cite web |url=http://www.diananyad.com/swim |title=Diana Nyad - The Swim |website=www.diananyad.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819190051/http://www.diananyad.com/swim |archive-date=2012-08-19}}
Background
{{main|Ski jumping#Women's ski jumping}}
Women have been fighting for years to be able to compete in the Winter Olympics’ ski jumping category. Women have always been banned from competing in the Ski Jumping Olympic Competitions since it became an official Olympic Sport in Chamonix Olympic Winter Games in 1924.Skiing Heritage Journal - Mar 2009 p. 16 "One hundred and forty-seven years later, the history of women's ski jumping has just begun to be written. Only in the 1990s were women first allowed to fully participate in international jumping competitions. For more than a century after ..." The documentary states why and how the women decided to do sacrifices and were determined to be allowed to participate in 2014 Sochi's Olympic Winter Games and make their lifelong dream come true. Before they were included in 2014 Sochi's Olympic Winter Games, the women athletes from around the world could compete in national championships and the best among them had the opportunity to ski in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup. This competition have been hosted yearly in 18 different countries since 1979 and is held by the International Ski Foundation.FIS Ski Jumping World Cup#Overall 2
Filmmakers<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://readytoflyfilm.com/filmmakers/|title = Employee Relations}}</ref>
- Writer/producer/Director : William A. Kerig
- Producer: Scott A. Zeller
- Director of Photography: Peter Pilafian
- Editor: Steve Haugen
- Producer/Marketing: Whitney Childers
- 2nd Unit Director of Photography: Scott Simper
- Assistant Editor: Adam Van Wagoner
- Field Producer: Anna Bloom
Lawsuit
A major part of the documentary is about the lawsuit from the ski jumping elite athletes from five different countries they intended against the International Olympic Council for their exclusion of women in the ski jumping discipline. The main goal was to participate in Vancouver's Olympic Winter Games in 2010, but it never happened.
Fighting Gravity is a 2009 documentary on a similar topic.
Sochi Winter Olympics, the dream coming true
After the film was first screened in 2013, professional athletes were able to compete in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games.Ski jumping#Women.27s ski jumping and the German Carina Vogt was the first woman ever to receive an Olympic gold medal in Ski Jumping.{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/winter-olympics/10632212/Sochi-Winter-Olympics-2014-Carina-Vogt-wins-womens-ski-jumping-gold.html|title = Sochi Winter Olympics 2014: Carina Vogt wins women's ski jumping gold| date=11 February 2014 }}
| {{MedalistTable|type=Event|columns=2}} | |||
| Women's individual normal hill {{DetailsLink|Ski jumping at the 2014 Winter Olympics – Women's normal hill individual}} 80px |{{flagIOCmedalist|Carina Vogt|GER|2014 Winter}} | 247.4
|{{flagIOCmedalist|Daniela Iraschko-Stolz|AUT|2014 Winter}} | 246.2
|{{flagIOCmedalist|Coline Mattel|FRA|2014 Winter}} | 245.2 |
