17yo sets her sights on 2032 Brisbane Olympics

The Brisbane Olympics are nine years away, but young athletes are already preparing for a chance to represent their country on the world stage.

Transcript

00:00 Sahara Desert Storm Dempsey packs a punch in the ring.

00:05 It's no like other sports. It doesn't just make you a fighter, it brings out a person you never knew you had.

00:12 The 17-year-old took up the sport five years ago to learn self-defence.

00:17 She's won state and national titles since then, but is now in training to take on the world's best boxers.

00:24 Representing my country, in my country, it would be a dream like no other.

00:28 The Townsville teenager has been selected as part of the State Government's U for 2032 program

00:34 to find and prepare the next generation of Olympic and Paralympic champions.

00:39 Young athletes with the potential to win gold are given specialised training through the Queensland Academy of Sport.

00:46 They've been a really big help because they're paid for some trips down there so we can go and train with them.

00:50 Sahara's quite switched on and focused so she's got a massive, massive, massive, massive chance of making the Olympics.

00:58 The Olympic hopeful has boxing in her blood.

01:01 Sahara recently discovered her great-great-grandfather is former US heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey.

01:08 He was Mike Tyson's role model. He had a brutal fighting style in that and apparently some people say I hit as hard as him.

01:16 For now, she'll work on perfecting her punch for a podium finish.

01:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]