Family Support is Key to Success for Rachael Flatt

It takes dedication and discipline to get to the Olympics. There's hours of rigorous training, the limited social life and the inevitable psychological hurdles. But for younger athletes, much of the sacrifice must also be shared by their families, without whose support, the Olympics would be an impossible dream.

Forbes has an inspiring article about the parental love that helped 17-year-old Rachael Flatt become the US Ladies' National Figure Skating Champion in January, and an Olympian this month in Vancouver.

Rachael's mother Jody is the portrait of a supportive parent, both encouraging her daughter to pursue Olympic dreams, while also ensuring her life remains as normal as possible.

"From the word go, we decided Rachael would always be enrolled in school, and we told her no matter what she did, that school would be the first priority," Jody tells Forbes. "And we've never had to say 'Boo' to her about it."

Unlike many champions who forgo school for private tutors, Rachael has attended public school the whole way thorugh and is now a senior at Cheyenne Mountain High, where she is a straight-A student, taking Advanced Placement courses in English, chemistry and biology. She has applied to Stanford, Harvard, Duke and Yale, to name a few.

For years, Jody's gotten up with Rachael at 4:30 a.m. to drive her to practice before school, logging 38,000 miles on her Jeep and forking over $50,000-plus a year it costs to properly train an Olympic hopeful.

Rachael's father Jim is no slouch either, commuting across the country to his job in Baltimore from the family's home in Colorado Springs, where Rachael's coach is located.

Their daughter first hit the ice when she was three, and by the time she was nine, her talent was impossible to ignore. She was already competing statewide in Colorado and had a full-time coach. Her first trip to the Nationals saw Rachael finish a promising sixth, then in 2008, she won the World Junior Championships.

It hasn't always been smooth going of course. Jody says there have been times when she questioned the grueling routine and financial sacrifice, especially a few years back when Rachael fell and hurt her back.

"We really wondered if all of this was worth it," Jody tells Forbes. "It can all disappear in a flash."

But none of the hard times have derailed this tight-knit, supportive family. You can't help but wonder if having that kind of love at her back has helped urge Rachael toward her championship title, and maybe even a medal in tonight's event.

Figure skating is, of course, one of the most talked-about events at the Winter Olympics, and while Rachael is in many ways a long-shot for a medal, for the whole family, it's the culmination of years of love and hard work. No matter what tonight's outcome, they can surely be proud of their whole family.

Photos by Rachael Flatt's team via Facebook.