A little-known martial art is making its Olympic debut this month, and a 17-year-old Kiwi is among those leading the charge.
Amber Zhou was selected as one of just 48 athletes to compete in wushu at the Youth Olympic Games in Senegal's Dakar, where the sport will feature on an official Olympic programme for the first time.
The teenager was also the only competitor from Oceania, marking a major milestone for a sport that had spent decades pushing for Olympic recognition.
Zhou told 1News her preparations involved balancing schoolwork with a demanding training schedule.
"It's basically eat, sleep, train, study and repeat. There's not much time for anything else," she said.
While wushu may not be a household name in New Zealand, its roots were familiar to anybody who had watched a Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan film.
The sport, a competitive form of kung fu, combined martial arts techniques with acrobatic movements, jumps and kicks.
But unlike the action-packed fight scenes seen on screen, there was no physical contact between competitors.
Zhou's coach Wei Zhau said contemporary wushu focused on demonstrating techniques rather than fighting an opponent.
"Our main technique is actually for self-defence, for fitness training, but it's not for hurting others," he explained.
Zhou was set to compete in two categories, one involving a barehand routine and the other using a weapon. Judges scored points for execution and difficulty, similar to gymnastics.
She said the performances were more physically demanding than they appeared.
"The routine is extremely tiring. For me it's pretty much a sprint, but at the same time you're bending down and you're jumping up. You can't relax for even a second," she said.
Wushu's Olympic debut had been decades in the making. The sport had previously been featured as a demonstration at the 2008 Beijing Games, but never as a main event.
Wushu New Zealand president Glen Keith said the Youth Olympics presented an opportunity to prove the sport belonged on the international stage.
"If the whole running of the event goes well in Dakar, I think that will be certainly a stepping stone to Brisbane 2032," he said.
Zhou believed the opportunity was also about inspiring more young Kiwis to take up the sport.
"There is definitely not much representation around wushu. If a kid out there sees someone like me doing the sport and actually feels like they want to do it, then that's going to be a huge reason why I continue doing wushu."
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