Taekwondo - BBC Sport (original) (raw)

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Double Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones has spoke of her devastation after exiting the Paris Games in the first round of women's -57kg taekwondo.

Jones was beaten by North Macedonia's Miljana Reljikj in a third round tie-breaker .

The 31-year-old from Flint had set her sights on becoming the first three-time Olympic champion in the sport's history.

"I’m absolutely devastated," she told BBC Sport Wales after the bout.

"I clawed my way back to have this chance to be at my fourth Olympics, but it always comes down to the day and I didn’t have the balls and courage that it took today.

"I’m really proud of myself for having the courage to try and do something that no one has done and it’s tough, it’s mentally tough, that’s why no one has done it before.

"The more you win, the harder it gets, the more expectation and pressure. When you’re a kid you’ve got nothing to lose and you just fight.

"I’m gutted for me, my coach, my family that I didn’t show what I’ve worked so hard for, didn’t show what I was capable of in my body and mind, but it’s sport and it’s life, I couldn’t do it."

Jones' Olympic build-up had been overshadowed by the controversy of a missed drugs tests, but she was later cleared by the UK Anti-Doping Agency.

"The preparation was tough, but I was really grateful they looked into it the way they did," she added.

"The drug test came on dehydration day, I was losing the weight and kind of not in the right frame of mind.

"I got confused with it all, so I’m just so lucky that they looked into it and saw nothing was wrong and it all got sorted. It was stressful."