By Patrick Bean Talia Iris appears as the prototype girl next door sweet, soft spoken, too herself.

But don't let the good looks fool you. Place her in the ring and she becomes a whirling dervish that is any opponent's worst nightmare.

Meet Bermuda's two-time world champion karate practitioner, part unassuming schoolgirl, part lethal weapon.

Since taking up the sport at the age of eight, Iris has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the rank of Nidhan-Ho (intermediate between first and second degree black belt). Watching people perform martial arts overseas as well as a steady diet of old kung fu movies convinced her to get seriously involved.

"I enjoy the atmosphere, the people and learning new things,'' says the 17-year-old fifth year Cedarbridge student. "Learning how to discipline yourself, control your temper and what not and I'm enjoying the travelling and the opportunity to see the world and meet different people and their cultures.

"It helps me to maintain my temper, learn self-discipline, be humble. I used to have a pretty hot temper, but after doing karate I've learned to remain calm and not pick at things as fast.'' And she has no inhibitions about taking on the guys, noting karate to be more about technique and inner strength as opposed to brute force.

Iris first came to prominence on the international stage with a win in sparring at the WKO World Championships in Orlando, Florida back in 1998. Last weekend she repeated the act and went even further, seizing three gold medals in Venice, Italy, winning the weapons 15-17 category, traditional kumite and point sparring.

"It was quite an experience in Venice, with 16 countries there. It was pretty competitive in my kata division,'' explained Iris, the daughter of Vernette Iris and Kenneth Nearon and sister to Natalia. "On Saturday I fought Canadian in point sparring and defeated her 4-0 and then on Sunday in the traditional part I fought two girls from Ireland in the semi-finals and then an Italian girl in the final. The last fight was a good fight, she was a really talented fighter, with good kicks and punches.'' Talia used her trademark reverse punch and round-kick to positive effect in her matches, her focus and discipline lending well to the triumphs as she appeared oblivious to her surroundings, catering to nothing but her opponent -- what athletes call being in `the zone'. "Sometimes I go into a real zone, like at a tournament in February I went into a zone and came out after the fight. And then on Saturday I went into one again whereby my team-mates were like `gosh, you finished that fight in five minutes', continued Iris, who has a goal of reaching the level of her sensei, Skipper Ingham, 10th degree black belt.

"I go in there do what I got to do...handle my business.

"My focus is to do the best I can and have fun, but to remember what I'm there for. I'm not out there to take this girl out or bust her all up, it's about showing clean, good technique.'' Still, while Bermudian is the picture of seriousness and intensity in the squared circle, off it she's likes to have fun and act like most teenagers.

A self-described "joker'', she enjoys socialising with her peers, making them laugh, and someday hopes to become involved with computers as a career.

"My goal in life is to succeed in college. I want to be a computer programmer and go to college, then university and excel at that.'' Both Ingham and her parents have encouraged her to strive for success on both sides.