Wrestler Kyla hurts and heals

What if you had the physical strength to subdue someone with such force that you could make an Olympic wrestling team?

And what if you had both?

Welcome to the life of Kyla Bremner - the Sydney doctor who often heals and hurts on the same day.

Bremner, who was born in Canada but has lived in Australia for over 10 years, is about to become the first woman to represent Australia in wrestling at the Olympics.

She juggles her training program for the Beijing Olympics with her work as a medical intern at Bankstown Hospital.

Currently Australia's top-ranked wrestler, Bremner, 31, completed her medical degree at Sydney University before spending the last two years working in hospitals in rural NSW, only this week returning from a three-week stint at Wagga.

It is a hard balancing act.

Her doctor's role requires long, hard hours and combined with training for sport's ultimate goal, Bremner isn't left with much relaxation time.

"I keep my private life away from work, so none of my patients would know about Beijing," she said. "But I do talk about it a lot with colleagues and they have been fantastic.

"They have been OK swapping shifts with me at late notice when I have had to train or travel ... they are usually very happy to help me out.

"I have had to become very disciplined with balancing work and training, even though it means I don't get a lot of time to see my friends or family."

But this matters little now that she's Beijing-bound.

"I am just so, so excited," Bremner said. "To be the first woman to wrestle for Australia is something I'm proud of . . . now I just can't wait to get over there."

Bremner pre-qualified for selection at the Oceania trials in Canberra last month, but only after some confusion over whether the sport's governing body FILA would grant seven places on the Australian team, was she given her chance.

Bremner had an accidental start to her wrestling career.

"I was going to university in Canada when an international wrestling tour visited and I went to watch a friend who was participating," she said.

"They were looking to start up a women's team and watching it just fascinated me, so I decided to have a go myself.

"It progressed from there."

While Bremner will be travelling with six male wrestlers chosen to compete, she says she has at least one friend on the Beijing team.

"I went to uni with one of the canoeists, Lachlan Milne, but I don't know a lot of the other wrestlers particularly well," she said. "I would be so thrilled to win a medal, but I think a top-10 finish would be amazing."