Two-time Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones of Great Britain is switching sports to boxing.
“Some days I wake up and think, am I absolutely crazy? Do you know what I mean?” Jones, 31, said in a BBC Breakfast segment that aired Friday. “But to be honest, I’m loving it. It’s a new a new challenge for me and really been thriving in it, excited, and I just felt like I’m not finished yet. There’s still a fire inside me. But taekwondo, I did it for years and years. I did the same cycle so many times. Obviously I love taekwondo, and it’ll always be my first love, but this is a new, exciting challenge, and I’m loving it.”
The BBC reported that Jones plans to enter the “paid ranks” of boxing.
Jones won Olympic taekwondo titles in 2012 and 2016, then lost her opening bouts in Tokyo and Paris while bidding to become the first person to win a third gold medal in the sport.
“Taekwondo is purely feet, so I’ve never really used my hands,” she said. “So, 23 years of obviously becoming Olympic champion, world champion with my feet, and now I’m totally switching it up and using my hands. So again, obviously, it makes the challenge even harder. But there are some similarities, like the footwork and obviously the fighting. I kind of know what it takes to be the best.”
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