‘I picture myself there – at the biggest show on earth’

JORDAN JO THOMAS has had to wait all his life for fo karate to make its Olympic debut so he is not n worried about waiting another year.

The 28-year-old Briton has followed in the footsteps of dad Willie by becoming world champion and now wants to line up in Tokyo next summer.

‘I’ve always wanted to be part of the biggest show on earth – who wouldn’t want that?’ he told Metro. ‘I picture myself competing there every day.’

Thomas is National Lottery-funded these days, a far cry from 2016 when he won his kumite -67kg world title in Austria. He recalls the hardships of combining competing and working at a school and martial arts academy.

‘The night before the final I had a call saying there was a problem with payment for my phone bill,’ he said. ‘I said to my roommate, “I have to go out and win. I have no choice now”.’ Thomas has faced adversity, being hit by car when aged two and told he may not be able to walk again, and more recently nearly losing the sight in one eye.

‘I was very lucky to be alive after that crash. My family still struggle to speak about it,’ added the Luton karateka. ‘Then I got a thumb in my eye at the world championships four years ago.

‘It was blacked out but I wanted to carry on competing if I’d been allowed. But if the injury was any deeper, I would have lost at least some of my sight in that eye.’

Thomas, who hopes to qualify for the Games in the new year, has a secret weapon up his sleeve. ‘I haven’t been able to do much lately but I love salsa and ballet,’ he said. ‘I like to push the boundaries of what I can do.’