Coppolino, who lives in Essendon, was not one of those to collect a medal in her sport of boccia – an adaption of the well-known bocce – last time, but will be going for gold this year.

Standing just 121cm, she said she had not looked back since taking up boccia four years ago and had even joined the Boccia Victoria committee to help further develop the sport.

“It’s the kind of sport that anyone can play,” Coppolino said. “It’s had a great influence on just about everything I do.”

While you are unlikely to see any footage of slam-dunks from the World Dwarf Games, Coppolino said that surprisingly there was little adaption made for short-statured people.

via Australian World Dwarf Games team boosts numbers for double medal effort in August | Leader Newspapers Central Melbourne