Olympic champion Jade Jones won gold for Britain in the women’s 57kg taekwondo on Wednesday to make it two British victories in the sport at the inaugural European Games.
After teammate Charlie Maddock had claimed gold in the 49kg event on Tuesday, Jones defeated Croatia’s Ana Zaninovic 12-9 in the final to claim Britain’s third gold and fifth medal overall.
Jones, 22, led 5-0 after a dominant opening period, 8-6 after the second and held her nerve to triumph by three points after a tense final two minutes.
Photo: EPA
Jones became the first-ever British athlete to win Olympic gold in taekwondo in 2012 and was also the winner of the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010.
“I’m just buzzing to be honest,” Jones told reporters.
“I got the Youth Olympic Games, the senior Olympic Games; so to get the European Games as well and have all three at such a young age is amazing,” she said.
“I want to become a legend of my sport, so I’m not done yet,” she added.
Jones said Maddock’s success on Tuesday had provided her with extra motivation to emulate her teammate and top the podium in the Azerbaijani capital.
“Charlie did amazing,” Jones said. “She’s only been doing taekwondo a year. It gives me confidence in our program. I’ve been doing the same training as her, we’re all a team and doing the same thing so it gives you confidence.”
En route to the gold medal, the second seed was nearly beaten by Hungary’s Edina Kotsis in their quarter-final, trailing 2-1 late on before landing a kick to the face of her opponent with just 23 seconds of the final period remaining and progressing 5-2.
In her semi-final, Jones was 7-1 up and cruising against Sweden’s Nikita Glasnovic, but had to withstand a late fightback, eventually prevailing 7-6.
She defeated Cypriot Despina Pilavaki 9-1 in the opening round.
In cycling, Ellen van Dijk won gold in the women’s individual time trial yesterday.
Van Dijk beat Ukraine’s Ganna Solovei and Dutch compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten to claim her nation’s first gold medal of the Games.
“It is the first European Games and that is quite special,” 28-year-old Van Dijk told reporters at Bilgah Beach.
“This was a race I have been preparing for, for weeks,” she added.
“I have been training at high altitude. I wanted to be very strong in this period and that worked out,” she said.
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