Most elite Island athletes who are internationals have the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo as their ultimate goal.
For Olivia Brodie, the dream extends far beyond that, to the 2024 Paris and 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
That is because the 12/13-year-old, 35-kilo karate national champion is only in Grade 7 at Cedar Hill Middle School in Saanich.
鈥淚f Olivia stays focused, absolutely her prime will be at Los Angeles in 2028,鈥� said her coach, Richard Mosdell, chief instructor at Kenzen Sports Karate.
Brodie鈥檚 international journey has already begun. With her Karate sa国际传媒 national title, won last week in Halifax, comes a berth into the Pan American junior championships in Rio de Janeiro in August.
鈥淥livia is so unassuming that you would never know she is that tough. But she is so mentally tough,鈥� said Mosdell, who is also high performance director for Karate sa国际传媒
Brodie became national champion in her age class for kumite, or sparring, but also won the silver medal in kata, or forms, and will represent sa国际传媒 in both at the junior Pan Ams.
鈥淚t鈥檚 rare to do both kumite and kata at the national and international levels,鈥� Mosdell said.
The Kenzen club, in Royal Oak, produced the bookends at the recent Karate sa国际传媒 national championships, from the pint-sized Brodie in 35-kilo, to the men鈥檚 senior heavyweight bronze-medallist Stephen Naeth in the 84-kilo class.
Brodie, who turned 13 last week, kicks her legs and moves her arms with furious speed, yet so precisely. She began at age four and said she got hooked on karate 鈥渂ecause training and learning things is so much fun, and I have really good coaches.鈥�
Everything changed for karate when it was added as an Olympic sport, starting in Tokyo, along with surfing, wall-climbing, skateboarding, men鈥檚 baseball and women鈥檚 softball. All those newly -added sports are popular on the Island and it could mean a windfall of new faces from here headed to Tokyo, such as Mathea Olin of Tofino in surfing, Elan Jonas-McRae of Nanaimo/Central Saanich in wall-climbing and Emma Entzminger and Sarah Chow of Victoria in softball.
鈥淭op young athletes in other sports could always point to the Olympics as their ultimate goal. We never had that before in karate 鈥� now, we do,鈥� said Mosdell a fifth-degree black belt, who coached for 10 years at the oldest and most legendary karate high school in Tokyo.
鈥淎nd with that comes a lot more government support.鈥�
That could combine to elevate to the podium the likes of young Canadian karate performers such as Brodie.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good, long-term goal for me,鈥� she said.
