JONES MAKES IT THREE IN A ROW WITH RECORD TITLE
JADE JONES claimed Team GB’s first gold medal in Tokyo to make history as the first British woman to win three Olympic titles in succession. The 27-year-old’s taekwondo success came on the second day and was Great Britain’s first medal of any colour following a slow start on Saturday.
Jones’s victory in the -57kg class was swiftly followed by a silver from Bradly Sinden, 21, in the men’s -68kg category.
It leaves Team GB 11th in the medal table after the opening weekend, with South Korea leading the way. At London 2012 and Rio 2016, the taekwondo was held at the end of the Games, meaning Jones was one of Britain’s last golden girls. But in Tokyo, the Welsh woman is Team GB’s first lady, writing her name into the record books after beating South Korea’s Lee Ah-reum in the final.
Like Jones, Sinden is the reigning world champion in his weight division but he lost to South Korean Lee Dae-hoon in yesterday’s final.
Gary Hall, GB Taekwondo’s performance director, said: ‘Jade is an outstanding athlete and an incredibly inspirational figure for many female and taekwondo athletes. We have been privileged to have such an incredible role model at GB Taekwondo.’
ELSEWHERE, the British women’s recurve archery team lost in the bronze medal match to China. Grace Reid and Katherine Torrance also finished fourth in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard diving.
IN the pool, Max Litchfield finished sixth in the men’s 400m individual medley final, while Aimee Willmott made the final in the women’s 400m freestyle but came eighth. Today, worldrecord holder Adam Peaty looks to retain his 100m breaststroke Olympic title, while Tom Daley and Matty Lee compete in the 10m platform synchro event.
The results are produced using a statistical model by global sports data company Gracenote.