At the ripe age of 22, Kim So-hui has already been to numerous international taekwondo competitions. Yet the Olympics will be a completely different animal even to the stoic athlete.

Kim will make her Summer Games debut in Rio de Janeiro in August. With two world championships and one Asian Games medal to her credit, it's a wonder Kim hadn't qualified for an Olympics before this year.

Attending a corporate promotional event in Seoul on Tuesday, Kim said she is carrying a mixed bag of emotions with the Rio Games less than 100 days away.

"I am nervous but excited at the same time, since this will be my first Olympics," said Kim, who will compete in the flyweight (49kg) division. "I won a world title at such a young age, and that has put some pressure on me to perform well at the Olympics, too."

Kim was referring to her first world championship in 2011 on home soil in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. She was just 17 years old when she took the finweight (46kg) title, becoming the first South Korean high school student to capture a world championship in six years.

Kim defended her title two years later in Puebla, Mexico. She then won a gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, west of Seoul. An Olympic gold this year will cap off a strong five-year stretch that also included a bronze medal at the 2012 Asian championships.

"I think the Olympics is the pinnacle of all sports," she said.

"I really want to win the gold medal."

And whether or not she actually reaches the top of the podium in Rio, Kim said she won't be content with going to just one Olympic Games in her career, especially after speaking to teammates about their prior Olympic experience.

"They told me they didn't have the presence of mind to know what was going on during their first Olympics, and they just went out there and competed," she said. "They said they got a bit more nervous and uptight the second time around. And I want to have the same kind of experience."

Kim credited her mother, Park Hyun-sook, with helping her get through adversity in her earlier years.

"She's been the strong pillar that I could always lean on, and I wouldn't be here without her," Kim said. "I was able to mature physically and mentally because of her. She has always offered me encouraging words when I got down on myself. I want to be a proud daughter for her." (Yonhap)