sport news Tokyo Olympics: Jade Jones has her eyes on gold only for Team GB after ...

sport news Tokyo Olympics: Jade Jones has her eyes on gold only for Team GB after ...
sport news Tokyo Olympics: Jade Jones has her eyes on gold only for Team GB after ...

The fighter who has made a habit of winning Olympic gold medals has developed a rather more awkward one of losing them.

'I'm a nightmare,' says Jade Jones, and it's a term that can be considered from a pair of perspectives.

For those on the opposite side of a taekwondo mat, Jones is the immovable object who took gold in the 57kg category at the London and Rio Olympics, and in Tokyo could become the first British woman in any sport to win at three successive Games. She's pretty decent at what she does.

Team GB's Jade Jones has her eyes firmly set on taekwondo gold at the Tokyo Olympics

Team GB's Jade Jones has her eyes firmly set on taekwondo gold at the Tokyo Olympics

But with all that comes the other sort of nightmare. The self-inflicted and recurring one, whereby she is outright terrible at looking after what she fought for. 'I lose my medals all the time,' she says.

'My grandad has them now. He took them off me!'

That's grandad Martin Foulkes, who didn't take kindly to Jones smoking aged 10 at home in Flint, Wales and got her into sport instead. Then and now, he's been steering her straight. She adds: 'He keeps the medals because I kept losing them.'

It happened twice when she won her first gold at London 2012 — once in a toilet at the Olympic Stadium and another time in the taekwondo hall — and in the years since, they have gone missing in a variety of other locations.

'I only had it a day the first time in 2012,' says Jones. 'It was literally the next day after winning and I was cheering on Lutalo Muhammad (who was winning bronze for Team GB). I just got up and left the box in the stands.

Jones is hoping to become first British woman in any sport to triumph at three straight Games

Jones is hoping to become first British woman in any sport to triumph at three straight Games

'That first time, it was an awful feeling. It's difficult because you can't just go and ask for another one. I noticed quite soon each time, maybe within an hour, and I ran back and luckily found it.

'There was this other time when I was doing a sponsor appearance (after Rio) when I brought the medals for people to have a look at. After about 30 minutes, I didn't have a clue where they were. Some random guy had them.

'My family don't trust me with them now. Even in Rio, we had this one time when I was with my mum in a taxi. The drivers wore replica medals there and we were getting out and my mum started shouting, "Jade, he has your medal". It wasn't mine but they don't think I can keep them safe!'

The 28-year-old has near enough been a

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