Sunshine Coast Olympic hopeful Ryan Tyack shoots for gold as games near

From the couch to the world stage, Coast Olympic hopeful Ryan Tyack has come a long way on the road to Olympic glory.

From the couch to the world stage, Coast Olympic hopeful Ryan Tyack has come a long way on the road to Olympic glory.

The Mapleton-based archer is counting down to the Tokyo games after securing a spot on the Australian archery team.

The 29-year-old has already tasted Olympic fame taking out the bronze in the 2016 Rio games.

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Tyack discovered his love for the bow and arrow when he was just 10 after his mother encouraged him to ditch video games.

"I wanted to do archery or fencing because of the video game I played, so I nagged her, she rang the club and they had an open day that same day," he said.

"I was terrible but I loved it."

In fact, his very first coach even told Tyack's mother not to bother bringing him back.

"She didn't tell me that, but after five years I was able to win a Youth World Championship and I achieved that from doing it again and again and again and working hard at it," he said.

With his eyes firmly on the prize, the bronze medallist has been busy training up to 45 hours a week.

He's fired off an impressive 250-300 shots a day with Sunshine Coast Archery Club at Ballinger Park Sports Complex.

"Providing archers what they need is important and that's what Ballinger Park allows," Tyack said.

"It's also really peaceful and serene here with the trees and the birds in the background."

The pandemic has interrupted athletes' training preparations worldwide and Tyack has not been left unscathed.

"It's been a really unique lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics but we've all had a chance to train longer together which is great," he said.

"We were meant to go to Thailand in March, Guatemala in April and China in May but those plans were scrapped."

Sunshine Coast councillor Jason O'Pray said it was terrific to see a Coast club using Coast facilities to produce an Olympian.

"We are so proud of Ryan's achievements and will be cheering him on loudly like the rest of the country come July," he said.

"We have many sport complexes and community facilities that sporting clubs and community organisations across the Sunshine Coast utilise to their full potential, which is great to see."

Originally published as Sunshine Coast Olympic hopeful Ryan Tyack shoots for gold as games near