Canterbury taekwondo prodigy Tom Burns is set to become the first male New Zealander to compete in the sport at the Olympics since Logan Campbell at the London 2012 Games.
Tom Burns (second from left) Photo: Supplied, Tom Burns
Inspired by action movies, 19 year old Burns took up taekwondo when he was a young boy with the dream of becoming a Ninja.
Receiving his taekwondo black belt at the tender age of 10, it's fair to say he has been honing his craft for some time now.
Last year the Christchurch native sealed his Olympic qualification by winning gold in the men's under 68 kg division at the Oceania Olympic Qualifying tournament in Queensland.
After finishing secondary school, he moved to South Korea to further pursue taekwondo at Nazarene University in Cheonan, which is considered one of the top taekwondo institutes in the world.
Without any knowledge of the Korean language, it wasn't an easy transition to make for the young man.
"When I first came it was very hard mentally, I felt very isolated I didn't have anyone to talk. I would say it's taken me a very long time to fully assimilate and get comfortable here, but I've got there in the end" he said.
Still based in South Korea, he will have a short distance to travel when the Tokyo games begin in July.
In the coming months, Burns doesn't expect to have much spare time with his strict training regime in Cheonan keeping him busy.
"During a regular day, I'll wake up at 8, go to strength and conditioning training till 11 and after that I'll have a snack and then I'll go do weights in the gym from 11:30-12:30 and then I'll come home and chill out until 3," he said.
"From 3-5 we have taekwondo training and in previous years we've had another training from 8-9 at night but because of COVID we can't train that late at the moment."
The intensity of taekwondo training in South Korea is unlike anything he had ever experienced, it is the country's national sport after all.
Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic Burn's training didn't let up with his coaches seeing it as an opportunity to train more.
"It's very intense all year round, it's very physically and mentally demanding and the coaches can be harsh and push you pretty hard, the level of training partners is pretty high up here as well."
Taekwondo was made an official Olympic medal sport in 2000 Photo: Photosport
Burns initially greeted the postponement of last years Olympics optimistically thinking it would possibly improve his chances.
As the youngest fighter in his division, an extra year of training and development gave him additional time to grow in both skill and in physical stature.
However, the pandemic has halted all taekwondo competitions in South Korea, leaving Burns without a testing ground outside of the gym he trains in.
"It's all well and good being able to say that you've improved and in the comfort of training it feels good but if you can't test it on the mats when people are trying to knock you out it's a bit hard to tell how well it's translated," he said.
In what will be his first Olympic Games, Burns is keeping his goals realistic.
"My goal for the Olympics would be to get an Olympic Diploma which means getting top 8 in your sport, I'd have to win my first round so that is something that I'm focusing on."
In Tokyo, Burns may have the chance to fight against his Taekwondo idol, an opponent who is fiercely respected among fighters and fans alike, South Korea's Lee Dae Hoon.
"It's something me and my coach joke about because they're both Korean, so he likes teasing me about it and tries to use it as motivation to make me do an extra lap or sprints."
He teases me by saying "it's time to put in the work, you could be fighting Lee in six months."
"It's a surreal thought but it's also quite exciting and it definitely makes me work harder knowing I could be sharing ring time with him."
Burns says that after the Olympics he will reflect on his journey in the sport so far and see whether there's more that he wants out of it.
Looking back at why he started the sport he admits he's almost achieved what he set out to do as a young boy.
"I'd say going to the Olympics is probably about as close as you can get to being a certified ninja."
-RNZ
