Paris 2024 Olympics: Jade Jones goals to attain ‘mission not possible’
Jade Jones is hoping to attain “mission not possible” and develop into the primary taekwondo athlete to win three Olympic gold medals when she competes in Paris subsequent yr.
Jones will look to shrug off the painful reminiscences of Tokyo in 2021.
The 30-year-old hopes to create historical past by emulating her success in London and Rio.
“I imagine I might be the individual to do it and I’ll go away all the pieces on the market,” mentioned Jones.
With a yr to go till the Video games begin in France, Jones is amongst quite a few athletes have received two Olympic gold medals in her sport.
“No-one has received three Olympic gold medals in taekwondo,” mentioned Jones.
“It has been mission not possible to this point, and that is why no-one has managed to do it.
“Now that I am older and after what occurred in Tokyo, it isn’t anticipated of me a lot. Persons are beginning to write me off. Deep down that provides me extra starvation as a result of I really feel like I’ve one thing to show once more.”
After profitable at London 2012 as a young person and defending her crown 4 years later in Brazil, Jones surrendered her title on the last-16 stage in Tokyo in 2021 with a shock loss to Refugee Staff competitor Kimia Alizadeh.
It left Jones near tears and threatened to show her swansong on the Olympic stage, as she overtly admitted to experiencing anxiousness and never having fun with a Video games sanitised by small crowds and lingering lockdown rules.
“There was a lot expectation on me within the build-up to Tokyo as a result of everybody anticipated me to go on the market and get the third gold, and I went to Tokyo feeling that I had all the pieces to lose,” added Jones.
“Every part was strain. There was strain on me because the athlete and there was all of the pandemic stuff that meant I did not take pleasure in it.
“I would grown so used to being cheered on in my large competitions by family and friends, and to don’t have any spectators there simply made it a very unusual expertise.
“The entire thing simply made it really feel prefer it wasn’t taking place for me on the market, and it wasn’t meant to be.”
Jones took an prolonged break from competitors, returning to take bronze on the 2022 World Championships in Guadalajara.
After falling within the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Championships to Taipei’s Lo Chia-ling in Baku in Might, Jones rebounded the next month, underscoring her dedication to the Paris course of by profitable her second European Video games gold medal in Krakow.
It was a well timed triumph for Jones, who should see off her home rival, the three-time world bronze medallist Aaliyah Powell, to safe the solitary -57kg squad on Nice Britain’s Olympic crew, earlier than she will even take into consideration overcoming the load of her sport’s historical past.
“The starvation is absolutely again with me,” mentioned Jones.
“Tokyo did not go effectively and I’ve since realised that my thoughts simply wasn’t proper… I did not wish to go away my profession like that – I wished one other shot at making sporting historical past.”
