Olympic Taekwondo gold medallist Jade Jones spars at Wirral club

Oct 17 2012 by Linda Foo Guest, Heswall News

OLYMPIC Taekwondo gold medallist Jade Jones dropped into Wirral to inspire students of the sport.

The young martial arts champion visited Wirral Taekwondo Academy (WTA) in Bromborough and gave four seminars to more than 200 people on Saturday.

The 19-year-old is Britain's first Taekwondo gold medallist, in the women's 57 kg weight category.

WTA instructor Richard Saunders trained with Jade, from Flint, until she was 15. Her Olympic coach joined her on the day.

Richard told the News: “It was such a brilliant day and Jade inspired so many students.

“We had 114 children and 100 adults attend.

“The seminars were each hour-half long but Jade stayed for a while afterwards so children could get their pictures taken with her and have a chat.

“She is a lovely girl, very level-headed – it is great she spent time here to help students develop. She talked about tactics used to win, and how she trained and prepared really hard for the Olympics. Everyone benefited from her visit.

“Jade was overwhelmed with all the students and how they respected her.

“She is a great ambassador for the sport. Her next step is Rio 2016 to retain her title.

“Everyone was over the moon to have met her.

“It is a dream come true to have an Olympic champion train with our students.”