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| Maria Alexiadis holding her gold medal that she won at the Australian Open Karate Championships |
This is true of Maria Alexiadis, Research Assistant, Steroid Receptor Biology Laboratory, who won gold at the Australian Open Karate Championships in Sydney in April.
Maria, who was considering retiring from competitive karate at the end of 2019, previously earned a spot through her ranking to try out for the Tokyo Olympics - but when COVID-19 hit, the Olympics and other major events were cancelled. The qualifying event will now be held in Paris in June this year.
"The top three medal winners only will qualify for the Olympics," Maria says. "Only 10 athletes from around the world overall will qualify for the Olympic event.
"My division has been amalgamated with a heavier weight division for the Olympics so this adds another layer of complexity to the whole qualifying thing.
"On top of that, Victorians were in lockdown for most of last year and so we weren't able to train with partners - makes sparring over zoom interesting!
"Australians overall, due to our inability to go overseas and train and compete with the best (or to even travel interstate) to prepare for the event, have been at a disadvantage."
Maria says while she won her -50kg division at the Australian Open Karate Championships, the situation for Australian athletes is vastly different from overseas. "Many overseas athletes are full-time sportspeople. They are paid and have personal coaches, doctors, massage therapists etc.
"In Australia, every athlete has to pay for the privilege to be on the Aussie team. Most of us are working and/or studying and juggling families etc."
Maria says it has been a big decision weighing up the pros and cons of going to Paris - but says: "I will give the qualifiers a crack."
"I know it is going to be tough and chances of making it onto the Olympic team are very low but I'm a big believer of 'never say never' and 'you've got to be in it, to win it.'
"The biggest cons would be the expense and I go all that way and get knocked out in my first round or worse still, get COVID-19 and not be able to compete at all.
"It will still be an amazing achievement and I won't be left wondering."
We're sure you will agree - let's get behind Maria and wish her all the very best for Paris and beyond - and perhaps we will soon have an Olympian in our midst!
Meanwhile, on Twitter we've been sharing our extra-curricular pursuits via the hashtag #notjustaresearcher, so feel free to join the conversation and share with us your own amazing personal achievements, sporting, arty, or otherwise!
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