5 Great Britain’s Jade Jones right kicks China’s Hou Yuzhuo during their 2012 Olympic gold-medal bout CHAPTER 1 THE HEADHUNTER Jade Jones is known as The Headhunter She’s flexible and quick And she can kick her opponents in the head with lightning speed Jones competed in tae kwon do also known as taekwondo at the 2012 Olympic Games in London England There she used her high kicks to the head to reach the gold-medal match
6 At only 19 years old Jones was not expected to contend for a medal Yet she beat the top-ranked athlete in her weight class With that win she set herself up to go for gold To win she would have to beat defending world champion Hou Yuzhuo of China Jones is from Flint Wales She competed for the British Olympic team known as Team GB So the hometown British fans went wild at the start of the gold-medal match Jones did not have as much experience as her opponent But the crowd was on her side Their support gave her energy and motivation Jones found a way to focus that energy She believed she could be a champion In the middle of the match Jones hobbled on the mat In an earlier Olympic bout she had injured her foot Trainers had treated Jones’s foot but it was still sore The pain flared up as Yuzhuo blocked Jones’s kick Mental toughness is part of tae kwon do training And Jones did not allow her foot pain to keep her from going for the gold
7 The bout entered its third and final round Jones landed several one-point kicks to Yuzhuo’s body One kick was even hard enough to knock Yuzhuo to the ground Time was running out for Yuzhuo She tried to get into position to score a four-point spinning kick to the head Jones knew that one strike to the head could wipe out her lead in an instant Jade Jones is nicknamed The Headhunter for her powerful kicks
