JADE Jones claimed a life-changing and first-ever British Olympic taekwondo gold medal – then declared she couldn’t wait to get back to Flint to celebrate.

Two years after announcing herself on the global junior stage with Youth Olympic gold, the 19-year-old made the senior breakthrough to beat all others with London 2012 gold.

For Jones the win – knocking out the world’s two top-ranked lightweight fighters on the way – vindicated her decision to up sticks from North Wales to move to Manchester when she was 17.

But after topping the podium on the same night global superstar Usain Bolt claimed his second gold at London 2012 Jones targeted the most humble of celebrations.

“I can’t wait to get back to Flint now to be honest,” she said.

“It feels absolutely amazing to be Olympic champion I can’t really believe it.

“The final went just as I wanted it to, tactically we got it just right and to come away with gold is amazing.

“I lost to Hou Yuzhuo at the World Championships last year and before the fight I was just saying to myself that there was no way I was going to let her stop me getting gold in London.

“When I won gold at the Youth Olympic Games two years ago I thought that was the best thing ever but this definitely tops that.

“I had all my family at the Youth Olympics and that felt so special and they were all there again on Thursday which was great.”

One member of that family that was probably sporting the widest grin of all was granddad Martin who first got an eight-year-old Jones into the sport.

Over a decade on and more than 11 hours after her first fight of the day at the ExCeL Martin could toast his granddaughter’s Olympic gold.

Jones had to do it the hard way – after two comfortable victories early on in the day she saw off world No.1 Li-Cheng Tseng to get herself into the gold-medal match, winning 10-6.

And, despite not quite living up to her ‘Headhunter’ nickname, Jones did it all over again in the final against Hou Yuzhuo – emerging victorious in an edgy encounter 6-4.

And, after becoming the third British woman to claim gold in a Team GB day to remember, Jones admitted she could barely believe she was joining a Girl Power club that contained her sporting idol Dame Kelly Holmes.

“When I was little and I won a medal I used to say ‘I’m like Kelly Holmes’ so it feels amazing to actually have won a gold medal,” she added.

“I didn’t know it had been such a great day for Britain and for the girls because I was just focusing on what I was doing.”

That focus took in four fights across a 12-hour period in which Jones needed an injection for a foot injury.

Victory will be a life-changer for the 19-year-old – something she admitted she was struggling to comprehend.

“I have no idea how it will change my life right now,” she added.

“I am just so happy to have won gold.”

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