Jade Jones’ Olympic medal chances dashed at first hurdle

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Jade Jones’ dream of matching her 2012 and 2016 Olympic victories was shattered when she fell at the first hurdle of the women’s 57kg taekwondo event at the Grand Palais in Paris.

The 31-year-old was defeated in her round of 16 match by North Macedonian Miljana Reljikj.

Her chances of a rematch also evaporated when Reljikj was knocked out in the next round.

Jones came to Paris in a somber mood after escaping a suspension for failing to undergo a drug test last December. The British Anti-Doping Agency ruled that she had “no fault or negligence for the missed test” due to “loss of cognitive capacity.”

Her tough part of the tournament began for her as both Kimia Alizadeh, whom she defeated in Tokyo three years ago, and Chinese Taipei’s World Championship silver medalist Lo Chia-ling were both defeated in their opening bouts.

But Jones was beaten by the narrowest of margins after the pair shared every opening round to set up a winner-takes-all third. A low-scoring affair also ended in a draw, with Reljikj receiving the verdict based on registering more unscored hits – hits that are not hard enough to score.

Sources close to Jones insisted she was unaffected by the ongoing speculation surrounding the circumstances of her missed doping test and the reasons why UK Anti-Doping felt it necessary to avoid her receiving a mandatory four-year ban.

But despite an encouraging start, Jones lost the opening game after her opponent made a headed three-pointer in the final five seconds.

Jones won the second game 5-4, but neither candidate could land a significant blow in a thrilling deciding game before Reljikj got her hand raised.

Jones sat inconsolably at the edge of the ring for a while before being allowed to skip the media mixed zone because he was still in the competition.