MARS — Rachel Honchorek has just one goal: to make it to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in taekwondo.

“It’s everything,” said Honchorek, 14, a freshman at Mars High School.

Honchorek nearly made the U.S. Junior National taekwondo team, finishing third in the welterweight division at the USA National Taekwondo Trials in January.

Only the top two qualified for the team.

It was a heartbreaking blow for Honchorek, who is a third degree black belt and has been participating in the sport since she was 7.

“It was really difficult that I lost,” Honchorek said. “I wasn’t prepared. I think I went a little crazy (in the match she lost in the semifinals).”

What’s crazy is all that Honchorek has already accomplished in the sport.

She already has a gold medal to her name in the 2013 Costa Rica Open in the 12-14 Cadet Middle Weight Division.

She also has a bronze medal in her trophy case from the 2013 Pan American Open in Mexico and a silver medal earned at the 2013 USA National Taekwondo Championships in Chicago.

Her coach is Francisco Loureda, who will coach the Nicaraguan Taekwondo Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro.

Her father, Mike Honchorek, is also one of her coaches.

“I definitely push her,” Mike said. “It’s a hard sport. It’s full combat fighting at 14-years-old. She comes home with broken fingers, bloody noses and there’s a chance every time she can get knocked out.”

The coach and the father in him are the same. He said he has no fear when it comes to his daughter competing in such a violent sport.

“I’m not worried about her at all,” he said.

Rachel also approaches the sport with little trepidation. She said that’s how it has to be.

In fact, the hardest part about the sport for Rachel is making weight.

At 5-foot-2 and 121 pounds, Rachel is muscular and fit. But she has to work extremely hard to keep it that way.

“I really like food,” she said. “Seven months out of the year, I’m on a diet to stay under 121 pounds. My normal body weight is 126. I’m so muscular, it’s really hard for me to keep my weight down.”

Her height is also a strength and a weakness in competitions.

Because some of her opponents are as tall as 5-11, her height makes it more difficult for her to score points.

“It’s harder for me to kick them in the head,” Rachel said.

It’s also a lot more difficult for her opponents to hit a small frame.

“I can go right inside on them,” Rachel said.

With a little more than two years before the Summer Olympics, Rachel is making an effort to compete in as many big events as possible.

She will travel to an event in Germany in April.

The traveling is also one of the appealing parts of the sport to Rachel, she said.

“I like to meet new people,” she said. “You spend a lot of time with people from all over and you become good friends.”