Taekwondo champion Jade Jones hopes for Rio double
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Welsh taekwondo gold medallist Jade Jones says she definitely wants to compete at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she hopes to triumph again.
Jones, 19, made history at the ExCeL on Thursday by becoming Britain's first Olympic taekwondo champion.
"It's amazing to only be 19 and be an Olympic champion already in my first Olympics," Jones told BBC Wales Today.
"So I'm definitely going for Rio and hopefully I can make it a double."
Jones had earlier described winning gold as "bonkers" and praised the role of her grandfather - who helped in her success.
The Flint fighter beat world champion Yuzhuo Hou 6-4 to take the title.
"It's just bonkers and singing that anthem standing there with everyone clapping and cheering, it's just amazing," said Jones.
"It was just the best feeling, you can't describe that feeling."
Jones becomes her country's youngest gold medallist and the youngest Great Britain gold medallist at the 2012 Olympics.
After a cagey opening round of the -57kg final, Jones took control in the second before easing to victory and securing Team GB's 25th gold medal at London 2012.
She earlier beat Serbia's Dragana Gladovic on her Olympic debut before overcoming Japan's Mayu Hamada in the quarter-finals and Chinese Taipei top seed Li-Cheng Tseng in the semi-finals.
Her win in the final means she also avenged the 2011 World Championship defeat to Yuzhuo Hou.
"I've had fights before where the last second you can get a head shot, so I just had to stay focused the whole round," said Jones.
"Going into the last round, I thought, 'two minutes and I'm Olympic champion'. I knew that she could get me back so I had to stay focused."
Wales have now equalled their 2008 Beijing success of three gold medals, with rower Tom James and cyclist Geraint Thomas also tasting success.
Jones has become only the third Welsh woman to win Olympic gold, following Nicole Cooke , externalin Beijing in 2008 and Irene Steer in 1912.
Jones was quick to pay tribute to her grandfather Martin Foulkes, who helped her development into an Olympic champion.
"My grandad's amazing," said Jones, who first became interested in taekwondo when she was just eight-years-old.
"He took me to training in Manchester four times a week, drove me all over the country.
"Obviously he was tired because he came straight from work and then drove me all the way there. So without him, I would not be here today."
Meanwhile, messages of congratulation have poured in for Jones following her stunning victory on day 13 of the Games.
Royal Mail has printed a stamp with her on it and will paint a post box gold in Flint, where hundreds of friends and family gathered in the town social club to cheer her victory.
Her father, Gary, said: "I am so happy. I was so scared and so nervous."
- Published9 August 2012
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- Published10 August 2012