Teen star gets a taste of Games glory

Tauranga's teenage Taekwondo fighter Brooklyn Storey is hoping her trip to Rio is a taste of things to come.

Storey, 15, left for Brazil earlier this week and will spend time training with New Zealand's only Taekwondo athlete at the 2016 Olympic Games, Andrea Kilday.

The experience of being in the Olympic environment is something Storey hopes will help her when she competes at the World Junior Taekwondo Championships in Canada in November.

"I'm going to support Andrea and will be training with her in her build up and preparation," said Storey. Kilday is due to take to the mat on August 18 (NZT).

"The whole experience of going there and knowing what it's like to be on that big stage - at the top level - will be amazing," said Storey.

The fighter competes in the under 52kg weight category and booked her place at the junior worlds in a qualifying fight at the New Zealand Open earlier this year.

An injury setback, when a torn leg muscle meant she couldn't compete in a tournament on the Gold Coast, only briefly slowed her preparation for Canada.

In her first tournament back, the Caboolture Open in Queensland, she won senior and junior golds in the under 52kg category and a silver in the next weight category up, under 55kg.

"Caboolture was a really good tournament - I was trained up for it and felt ready for it. It was my first competition back from my injury but I felt so ready and that my injury wasn't going to play up."

She has also qualified to represent New Zealand at the Oceania Championships in Fiji in late November and spent a week and a half training in Thailand.

"I got a lot out of that. I was constantly training every day with the national team and their Olympians. It mentally prepared me and got my mind in the right place. I'll have a lot of Thai people in my division (in Canada). I was getting to see how they fight and what they are doing when they are training, so when it comes to actually fighting them on the mat, it will be very helpful - I'll have an idea what to expect."

Storey's mum Hayley is a third dan black belt and New Zealand team manager.

They are both members of the Budo South gym based at Greerton and Storey also trains at, and is sponsored by, Fitco 13th Avenue which is owned by Taekwondo New Zealand development officer Tim Urqhart.

Storey trains six, sometimes seven, times a week. She won gold at the 2014 New Zealand national championships, gold at last year's New Zealand open, gold at the Gold Coast Open in 2014 and two golds at the same event last year.