Jade Jones

Jade is Team GB’S youngest ever Olympic medalist and Team GB’s first ever taekwondo gold medalist.
Born in North Wales in 1993, Jade was introduced to Taekwondo, aged eight, by her grandfather as a means of self-defense. Jade proved herself as a natural talent and enjoyed a quick and prolific rise through the ranks to become the UK’s number one ranked junior of any division, male or female.

Fighting in the -55kg division, Jade turned pro in 2010 and that same year competed on behalf of Great Britain at the Youth Olympics in Singapore, taking Team GB’s first ever gold in the sport. A steady stream of silver and bronze medals followed in various European Championships.

Now firmly established in GB Taekwondo’s senior elite squad, fighting in the 57kg Olympic weight division, Jade’s medal haul continued on a grand scale in 2011. Her highlight being winning silver at the World Championships in South Korea missing out on gold by the narrowest of margins and losing in a sudden death decider against her Chinese opponent, Hou Yuzhuo.

Jade’s ultimate victory was won on home turf at London 2012 Olympics where she took home gold. Jade – nicknamed the ‘Head Hunter’ for her attacking style – competed in the -57kg weight category final against Hou Yuzhuo of China, once again, in the 2012 World Champions and vowing that being beaten by Yuzhuo “wasn’t happening again in front of my home crowd”, she took home gold.

2014 was another hugely successful year for Jade and saw her crowned World Grand Prix champion with a convincing victory over the World No.1, Eva Calvo Gomez, in Mexico. Jade finished the year being named as Great Britain’s Taekwondo Player of the Year for 2014. The accolade topped off a superb 12 months for the Athlete.

At just 21 years-old, Jade has already picked up countless awards including BBC Wales Young Sports Personality of the Year and the Jaguar Academy of Sport Special Recognition and Star of the Future Award.

She now resides in Manchester where she competes with the GB Taekwondo Academy and prepares for Rio 2016 Olympics – exciting times lie ahead!