By Brett Prettyman

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Lindsey Van may never get a chance to stand on the top podium of the Olympics as a ski jumper, but thanks in a large part to her efforts, at least a woman will during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Since first taking up the sport as a 7-year-old in Park City, Van has been dreaming of being on the women’s Olympic ski jumping team.

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At a glance

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“Ready to Fly” screenings

Feb. 16 » A screening will be held in Ogden as the Utah Film Center presents “Ready To Fly” at 7 p.m. at the Pleasant Valley Library, 5568 S Adams Ave., Washington Terrace, UFC film screenings are free and open to the public. First come, first served.

Through Feb. 24 » “Ready To Fly” is running in the six Larry H. Miller Megaplex Theaters across the Salt Lake Valley. It shows five times a day at all the venues with standard ticket pricing.

Feb. 20-21 » The Park City premiere of “Ready to Fly” is being held at the Egyptian Theater at 7 p.m., $20 per ticket adults, $10 kids 12 and under. Presentation and Q&A from writer and director Bill Kerig and women’s ski jumping athletes.

Feb. 22 » The Logan screening, presented by the Utah Film Center, will be held at 7 p.m. at the Taggart Auditorium at Utah State University. UFC film screenings are free and open to the public. First come, first served.

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But there was a problem — no such team exists. Van, and other women with a passion for flying off ski jumps and their supporters — have been fighting for the right for females to compete in the Olympics for 12 years.

It is "not something I want to do. It is something I felt like I had to do, not for me, but for the sport itself," Van said.

The groups’ efforts — focused around Van, the first women’s world ski jumping champion crowned in 2009 — have been documented in the film "Ready to Fly." The film is a tribute to the human spirit of fighting for what is right and at the same time focusing on what really matters in life.

Bill Kerig, a Utah director fresh on the heels from the success of his film and book "Edge of Never," took up the project soon after the final legal case to get women’s ski jumping in the Vancouver Games of 2010 was rejected.

But the story and the effort were not over — not by a long jump.

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Proving they belong » In advance of the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, officials with the International Ski Federation said the sport "seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view."

The Federation later changed its tone, largely because of public outcry, and supported women’s jumping in the 2010 Games.

But the decision was not up to any group other than the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which rejected the notion that women should compete in the Winter Games.

Women showed they did belong during an event in 2009 at Whistler Olympic Park, where the 2010 games would be held. Van set a record — for both men and women — with a jump of 105.5 meters.

Van continued her stellar performance in 2009 by winning the first women’s world championship in the Czech Republic. It was a short-lived excitement as the women lost a final effort to compete in Vancouver.

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Passing the torch » Van "was crushed" and quit her beloved sport. The dream was over.

Kerig entered the story at that point.

"I thought it would be a story of passing the torch from Lindsey to another jumper. I really thought she was done," Kerig said. "But Lindsey wasn’t done. Her dream, her love for jumping was too much."