Paris 2024 Olympics: Jade Jones goals to realize ‘mission not possible’

Jade Jones is hoping to realize “mission not possible” and change into the primary taekwondo athlete to win three Olympic gold medals when she competes in Paris subsequent 12 months.

The 30-year-old hopes to create historical past by emulating her success in London and Rio.

“I imagine I could be the particular person to do it and I’ll go away all the things on the market,” stated Jones.

With a 12 months to go till the Video games begin in France, Jones is amongst various athletes have gained two Olympic gold medals in her sport.

“No-one has gained three Olympic gold medals in taekwondo,” stated Jones.

“It has been mission not possible thus far, and that is why no-one has managed to do it.

“Now that I am older and after what occurred in Tokyo, it is not anticipated of me a lot. Persons are beginning to write me off. Deep down that offers me extra starvation as a result of I really feel like I’ve one thing to show once more.”

After successful at London 2012 as a teen 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 Crew 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 laws.

“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 things to lose,” added Jones.

“The whole lot was strain. There was strain on me because the athlete and there was all of the pandemic stuff that meant I did not get pleasure from it.

“I might grown so used to being cheered on in my huge competitions by family and friends, and to don’t have any spectators there simply made it a extremely 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 Could, Jones rebounded the next month, underscoring her dedication to the Paris course of by successful 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 staff, earlier than she will be able to even take into consideration overcoming the burden of her sport’s historical past.

“The starvation is absolutely again with me,” stated Jones.

“Tokyo did not go properly and I’ve since realised that my thoughts simply wasn’t proper… I did not wish to go away my profession like that – I needed one other shot at making sporting historical past.”