The making of... Jade Jones

Double Olympic champion Jade Jones isn't a stranger when it comes to making history.

Born in Flint, Wales in 1993, the taekwondo fighter became Team GB's first-ever gold medallist in the sport at London 2012 and backed up her performance with a second victory four years later.

Now chasing an historic third gold in Paris, here's how 'the headhunter' came to be:

Jade Jones and her leisure centre beginnings

Jones grew up in Flint, Wales and took up taekwondo after her grandad Martin took her to a club session.

The aim was to get a misbehaving eight-year-old off the streets and learning to defend herself and Jones often cites her grandad as her inspiration within the sport after his efforts of driving her to Manchester and Cardiff to train with the best of the best.

At the age of 15, Jones decided to switch from International Taekwondo Federation rules to the World Taekwondo Federation code of the sport that features in the Olympics and eventually left school aged 16 to take the sport up full-time.

From there, the fighter flourished. All due to a knack for 'being naughty' as a child.

"My grandad got me into taekwondo," she said.

"I was quite naughty when I was younger, and he wanted to get me interested in something more productive.

"He took me down to the local leisure centre and it was by chance that it was Taekwondo that I took up."


The makings of the 'headhunter'

Jones' big break came with gold at the Youth World Championships in 2010, matching that result at the Youth Olympic Games just months later.

Aptly named 'the headhunter' because she prefers to score her points from her opponent's head, it did not take long for her to move up the ranks to the senior standard, taking her first senior title at the 2011 US Open in Austin, Texas.

Making moves at every turn, Jones was invited to become part of the GB Taekwondo's training centre in Manchester and it was there that her Olympic dreams took off.


Jade Jones at London 2012: When history was made

At just 19 years old, Jones wrote her name into the Olympic record books by winning Team GB's first-ever gold medal in taekwondo.

In front of a home crowd, the teenager beat China's Yuzhuo Hou 6-4 to take the women's -57kg title.

The victory came a year after the Chinese fighter had taken a sudden death win in the final of the 2011 World Championships.

Jones took hold in the second round to generate a clear lead and held on for the gold in a moment that catapulted her to national stardom and saw the Flint Pavilion Leisure Centre where she first tried the sport, renamed after her.

"It still doesn't feel real, it feels crazy," said Jones. "I've dreamt about this for ages and the crowd have just been amazing. This can't be beaten.

"To be the first ever British taekwondo athlete to win Olympic gold is amazing.

"To win Olympic gold is special, but to perform in front of all my friends and family is just amazing."


Clinching the double at Rio 2016

Four years later Jones was back on the top of the podium at the Rio 2016 Games.

Following a couple of years away from her best, the champion returned to form ahead of Rio with 2015 European Games and 2016 European Championships gold.

Jones beat Spain's Eva Calvo 16-7 in the final to make her a two-time Olympic champion at the age of 23.

"I'm still young so to be double Olympic champion already is crazy to be honest," she said.

"I started crying before the semi-final because I was just so nervous and felt so much pressure. But I pulled it off when it mattered so I'm just so happy.

"I obviously knew I'd feel some pressure as the reigning Olympic champion but I didn't realise how much it would be."


Jade Jones SAS Who Dares Wins

At the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games, Jones had set her sights on becoming the first taekwondo fighter to complete the Olympic three-peat, but the unthinkable happened as the Brit was knocked out in a first-round defeat.

Struggling to make sense of what had happened, Jones turned away from the physical and looked to the mental side of competition, joining the 2022 season of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.

"I’d just lost my third Olympics going into it, so I wanted to figure myself out a little bit," said Jones, who reached the final of the show.

"Most people go on it to see for yourself if you’re a strong person. So, I wanted to see how strong I was.

"It is hard, but it's amazing."

With her mental and physical strength reignited, Jones is back on track to Paris with her eyes on that historic gold medal.

And following gold at the Paris Grand Slam in 2023, the two-time Olympic champion believes she is fighting fit once more.

She added: "People don’t understand how hard sport is, the rollercoaster of it.

"I just want that chance to try and go for history again and I will give it absolutely everything I’ve got to try and achieve it again."

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