Olympic dreams could come true with weird & wonderful sports

New Olympic sports give Warwick sporting clubs a chance of gold medal glory.

OLYMPICS: Dreams of one day donning the Green and Gold are often short lived with only the best of the best realising the Olympic dream.

The countdown to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is underway, with less than 220 days until the Australian flag proudly flies.

While sports like swimming and athletics often dominate the conversation in the run up to the games, there are 31 alternate sports that require as much handwork and dedication.

The introduction of five new sports will see more than 11,000 athletes from 206 nations vying for gold victory.

Karate will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo, and along with taekwondo, it's a sport that is often forgotten about.

Warwick taekwondo master Merve Coleman said the determination to become an Olympian is just as gruelling across all sports.

"Only five per cent of people that take up the sport end up making it to that elite level," Coleman said.

"Most people take it up because they see it as an opportunity to lose weight or gain some self-defence confidence.

"But after years of training, those avenues could open up for people."

Now into its 12th year in Warwick, Coleman has seen close to 400 students come through the club, and admits only a handful had what it takes to make the distance.

"The chance to make an Olympic team can be easier because there is significantly less people competing at that high level in taekwondo or karate," he said.

"Travel is the biggest reason why we don't have a lot of people that make professional inroads."

While the club offers taekwondo's traditional practice, Coleman said the sport side is faster and more rigorous in training.

"They're very quick - some people see what they do and then look at us, and see the difference as quite dramatic," he said.

"We definitely get more attention during Olympic years.

"But it is hard, because again they look at those guys on TV and see the differences in what we do - but it's all the same kicks, punches and attacks."

While it takes years of training to make an Olympian, Warwick is home to a number of unique sports that may open pathways for success.

The Warwick Pistol Club is one ave to achieving Olympic glory or the straight arm shooters at Warwick Archers could have people seeing gold in no time.

The 2020 games might be around the corner but the four year wait for the Paris Olympics could turn anyone into a sporting superstar.

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