The last thing Australian wrestler Jayden Lawrence thought he'd be doing while on an intense training camp in the lead up the Olympics is trying horse milk.

"It didn't go so well in the belly," he told ABC News Breakfast.

The 29-year-old from Camden, south-west of Sydney, is currently in the mountains of rural Kyrgyzstan — a twelve-hour drive away from the capital, Bishkek.

There, horse milk is a delicacy, drank by locals to help clear the digestive system.

"Lucky for me, I'm not very fussy with my foods, but they've got 'different' types of foods I guess you could say."

Grappling with the mountains

It's a long and winding road to Paris for Jayden, who is training in the remote mountainous village of Issy Kul with fellow Aussie wrestler, Georgii Okorokov.

Georgii and Jayden have both been selected to represent Australia in freestyle wrestling at the Olympics. It comes after no Australian representation at Tokyo 2020.

Along with their coach Andrey Vorontsov, the team of three have embarked on an intense high-altitude training camp, 2,500m above sea level, pushing their aerobic capacities to the very limit to get in the best shape possible for Paris.

"Even just the day-to-day stuff, like going upstairs to your room, you're almost out of breath sometimes," he said.

Other than the "different" cuisine, Jayden says language can sometimes be a barrier while training.

"My coach speaks the language, so he's the translator. He has to be next to me and be like 'okay, what are we doing next,' then he'll translate each time."

Before the team arrived in Kyrgyzstan, Jayden, Georgii and Andrey spent five weeks training in neighbouring Kazakhstan, home to some of the world's best wrestlers.

There, Jayden sparred with elite Kazakh wrestler Azamat Dauletbekov who is heading into the Paris Olympics as the number one-ranked wrestler in the world.

"I'm getting points on these world champions and Olympic champions which I'm happy with, and is a big confidence boost," he said.

"It's certainly [putting me] in the ballpark of getting a medal."

Breaking the drought

Wrestling has always been a weak spot for Australia at the Olympics.

No wrestling team was sent to Tokyo, no gold medal has ever been won by an Australian, and the last podium finish for an Australian was way back in 1948.

Since 2012, Jayden has tried to qualify for the Olympics three times. In each attempt, he was knocked out at the same semi-final stage.

"The funny thing is, the country that I beat this time was the one I lost to previously in those finals, so it was good redemption," he said.

"It was like your whole life led up to that point and you've finally accomplished it. Yeah, I haven't felt anything like it before."

Jayden's form has gone from strength to strength after he broke Australia's 12-year medal drought at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, taking out bronze.

"That was a crazy, crazy, crazy match, that one."

He went into that final with a popped ACL, MCL and meniscus.

His advice from his physiotherapist was 'don't stop moving', otherwise he wouldn't be able to compete.

"I had to run around on the mat for three to four hours before the final so my knee didn't seize up, because once it seized up, I couldn't walk," he said.

"The next day, I couldn't walk… it was a great feeling and mixed as well, because I was in absolute agony and pain."

His current training in remote Kyrgyzstan seems just as ruthless.

"You have an up and down rollercoaster of hard training, then it eases off. Then it's hard training again, so, peak performance type of stuff," he said.

"Right now it's not too bad, but if you asked me a week ago, I'd say 'oh my body's dead'."

Jayden, Georgii and Andrey will spend two more weeks training in Kyrgyzstan's mountains, before heading back to the city and then on to Paris.

"Any medal would be an accomplishment, would be huge for Wrestling Australia," he said.

"But in my mind, all I want to do is wrestle my best wrestle... I think that would get a medal."