London 2012 Olympics: Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee interview Bramhope, a quaint parish nine miles north of Leeds, mentioned in the Domesday Book, is an unexpected habitat for two of Britain's best athletes, until you consider that it sits near the edge of the Dales, a spectacular natural training ground. The harsh landscape is one of the foundation stones of the Brownlees" success, they say; and the capricious weather has forged their mental steel. Yorkshire has been a big part of our success," Alistair says, as we sit at their kitchen table. When you get out of bed every morning to train, it helps if you are inspired by the landscape. I will always live around here. Where's better? The biking around here is great, with lots of old historical back roads and also trails for running," Jonathan adds. 'It can be cold, and it's not fun when your hands are so cold that you can't feel the key and you have to open the door with your teeth, but you learn to get on with it. In most respects the inside of their house, which they share with their childhood friend Alec Duffield, resembles student digs. A large television rests on a makeshift table made of wood and cinder blocks; there's an Xbox console and a stash of DVDs (from Ali G to Good Will Hunting); in a framed photo montage, a grainy nocturnal picture features a group of friends with traffic cones on their heads. But then you start to notice the Lycra sportswear festooned across radiators and chairs, the mound of trainers and, above all, the trophies. A round paperweight on a coffee table turns out to be an ITU World Championship trophy. You quickly realise that with the Brownlees, first appearances are deceptive. Alistair and Jonathan share youthful, cherubic features and slim, boyish frames (at six foot, Alistair is taller by two inches). As one commentator observed, 'They look like they have just come out of the back garden. Alistair was born on April 23 1988, Jonathan two years later on April 30 1990. They have a 16-year-old brother, Edward. ('He is a bigger build but he never had the same determination," Jonathan says. He prefers rugby.") Their mother, Cath, is a GP and their father, Keith, is a consultant paediatrician. Their parents enjoyed swimming and running at school, but the brothers" never-say-die spirit is credited to their grandfather Norman. When his Merchant Navy vessel was sunk during the war, he swam to shore. He always says, "You remind me of myself,"" Alistair says. The boys grew up in the affluent Leeds suburb of Horsforth and attended the independent Bradford Grammar School. Their memories are infused with two themes: sport and sibling rivalry. We have always been very close, but competitive," Jonathan says. We used to fight over football, table tennis and badminton. Monopoly was a big one for fighting. Even when we went out walking with our parents we'd be picking up sticks and sword-fighting. I remember once hitting Alistair with a golf club, though I can't remember why. Alistair remembers: 'I was beating him at crazy golf," he says. Jonathan looks embarrassed: 'I thought, "Oops, that must have hurt,"" he adds. 'But we've never had massive fall-outs . At school the brothers excelled at cross-country, fell-running, cycling and swimming. I was bribed into starting swimming with the promise of sweets and by being told that you can win medals," Alistair says. My mum had given me a bag of medals which she had won when she was young, so the idea of winning medals was very exciting. Jonathan was school cricket captain, played fly-half for the rugby team and had dreams of playing football for Leeds United, while Alistair preferred endurance sports. It was their uncle Simon Hearnshaw, a keen triathlete, who introduced Alistair to the sport. My first event was in Nottingham, aged 11, and the prize was a bike," Alistair recalls. I thought, "Wow." I had no idea what to wear. I think I did it in swimming trunks, then just put on a T-shirt and shoes for the bike part. Triathlons felt exotic. There was a technical and tactical aspect to it, as well as the endurance challenge. I was hooked. When Alistair, who went on to represent Great Britain at junior level, came home with his national kit at the age of 14, Jonathan was mesmerised. I remember thinking, "I want that,"" he says. The boys cycled to school, ran at lunchtime and swam after school. They would come home, eat, do an hour of homework and go to bed. That was our life. It's what we knew and we loved it," Jonathan says. Despite the play-fights, Alistair was always protective of his younger brother, defending him at school and encouraging him on bike rides: 'I remember cycling with a group and my mum saying, you can only go if you take Jonny. I was pushing him along so he could keep up," he says. In 2006, at the age of 18, Alistair won the World Junior Triathlon Championships. He knew then that he had a special talent, but he was academic, too, and received an offer to study medicine at Girton College, Cambridge. 'I knew I wanted to be a professional triathlete but I didn't know it was possible until I won the junior champs," he says. My dad said I should give Cambridge a go to see if I could do both, but it was only ever a trial. After one term, he left to focus on triathlon, but has since completed a degree in sports science and physiology at the University of Leeds and is now doing an MSc in finance at Leeds Met. 'It's good to have something other than training," he says. Jonathan soon followed. A member of the Great Britain junior triathlon squad from the age of 14, he won the British Youth Triathlon Championships in 2006 and 2007 and became European Junior Champion in 2009. He has just graduated in history from the University of Leeds. 'I wasn't ready to go straight from school into being a full-time athlete, so uni helped wean me into it all," he says. Success was secured when the brothers turned professional. Alistair won the World Under-23 Championships in 2008 and, as a relatively inexperienced 20-year-old, he was leading the Olympic triathlon in Beijing until he faded in the brutal heat, finishing 12th. He won the 2009 ITU World Champion­ships and the 2010 ETU European Champion­­ships, then completed the World and European double in 2011. Jonathan claimed the World Under-23 Championships in 2010 and the World Sprint titles (a shorter 750m swim, 20km sprint and 5km run) in 2010 and 2011. Training together (they share a coaching team at Leeds Metropolitan University's Carnegie High Performance Triathlon Centre) provides the brothers with extra motivation. 'Jonny keeps me on my tiptoes," Alistair says, and Jonathan adds, 'I've always looked up to Alistair. He has been a barrier-breaker for me. When he won the world champs, I thought, "I can do that, too."" During races, the brothers work together, riding behind each other on the bike leg (to overcome air resistance), sharing advice and plotting tactics. In London last year I slowed the pace for Jonny to try to help him get third place," Alistair says. Jonathan adds, 'At the European Championships, Ali got a puncture so I slowed down the pack for him. It also helps that we travel together, so when you arrive in a strange hotel in a foreign country, you have someone to talk to. We just move our home environment with us. Have they ever sat down to formalise the rules of battle? It is more of an understanding," Jonathan says. 'I've never said, "Right, Alistair, you'd better not attack me." Basically, I don't expect Alistair to do anything that will affect his race and Alistair wouldn't expect me to, but if we can help each other, we will. It's pretty simple. Of course, they also possess a strong individual desire to win, but it is a credit to the strength of their relationship that their system works. They are sensible enough to act before any tension builds. Alistair owns their current home, but Jonathan has just bought a house a quarter of a mile up the road. 'We're on top of each other a bit here," he says. 'It's nice to get our own space, but still live nearby and train together. The brothers train seven days a week, with 35 hours of exercise (eight hours" swimming, 10 running and 17 cycling). They cycle and run in the Dales and swim in the pool at the high performance centre. They rise at 6.15am and are in bed by 9.30pm - they sleep in 'altitude tents," which simulate high altitude by replacing oxygen with nitrogen to encourage the body to produce more red blood cells; their bedrooms look like childhood dens. Their garage is crammed with their sleek carbon-fibre Boardman bikes, designed by the 1992 Olympic cycling champion Chris Boardman. Yet on the whole they adopt a no-frills approach to training, with no iPods to spoil the tranquillity of nature. The brothers still compete alongside amateurs in local runs, such as the Auld Lang Syne race near the Pennine village of Haworth on New Year's Eve. I absolutely love those," Alistair says. For me, that is what sport is about: local people, local scenery, a fun competition and that special time of year. At home they take turns to cook, but eat at their parents" house in Horsforth once a week. 'Alistair thinks he's a real chef and gets a cookery book out, whereas I'll be doing pies and chilli," Jonathan says. Alistair confesses they have a relaxed attitude to nutrition. 'With all our training we don't worry about calories," he says; he once prepared a tortilla stuffed with Super Noodles, salad and hot dogs. Jonathan habitually eats a pizza before a race. Playful competition still infuses their domestic life. 'I'm better at cleaning than Alistair," Jonathan says. 'I haven't ever seen him clean," Alistair retorts. They both admit to being in relationships, but their training schedule makes it hard. Alistair explains, 'My girlfriend is very understanding as I'm up early, away a lot and always eating at weird times. The boys are used to being described as one entity, but each has his own personality and ambition. Jonathan wants to travel to South America and New Zealand or teach history and PE; Alistair wants to do Ironman events, climb Everest or cross Antarctica: 'Anything challenging and outdoors, just not an office job. Jonathan is garrulous and effervescent, often answering questions first. Alistair is more relaxed and reticent. I watch football and Alistair hates that," Jonathan says. And I have to be on time. Early," Alistair smirks. I am more relaxed and not so organised, but that comes with experience, I guess. I like being active so I relax by taking a walk or flying a kite. Their affection for their home region is reciprocated by the locals. 'Yorkshire people are proud of where we're from," Jonathan says. The brothers" faces adorn the local telephone directory, which elderly neighbours ask them to sign. '"You're the guys from the phone book." We hear that a lot," Alistair says. Staff at the local bakery give them free sandwiches. Motherly neighbours take delivery of bicycle parts on their behalf and sometimes cook them dinner. Jan, who lives over the road, bakes us cakes," Jonathan says. She does a great lemon drizzle cake. In their kitchen, London 2012 seems a long way off. A million spectators are expected in Hyde Park for the triathlon, yet both brothers seem unflustered by the media circus that would follow a win. The Olympics is this big global event, but when neighbours come up and wish you well, it feels more personal," Jonathan says. 'If it happens or it doesn't, we'll deal with it," Alistair shrugs. Their joint narrative has always suggested that Alistair is more likely to triumph in London. That changed in February, when he tore his Achilles tendon, leaving Jonathan to win two ITU World Series races, in San Diego and Madrid. But Alistair returned to action in a World Championship Series race in Kitzbühel, Austria, last month to claim a win by 49 seconds, with Jonathan in second place. Alistair says he would like them to cross the line together in London, but the ITU, triathlon's governing body, has warned them against such a strategy: 'They said they would photo-finish us," he says. So what will the brothers do if they find themselves neck and neck, 500m from the line on August 7? Alistair smiles. 'We'll be sprinting as fast as we can," he says. I glance across at Jonathan. Definitely," he nods, without a hint of awkwardness. 'We'll sprint as fast as we can and just see who wins. It may be tempting to feel sorry for the sibling who misses out on gold, but any pity is best reserved for their rivals.