The British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced today three athletes as selected to represent Team GB in taekwondo at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The athletes selected today have won medals at Olympic, World and European Championships, and will be aiming to challenge for Olympic medals at the ExCel Arena in London Docklands this summer.
The selected athletes are:
Sarah Stevenson, who claimed a memorable bronze medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, is the most experienced member of the team and will be attending her fourth Olympics Games. The Doncaster-born athlete is the current reigning World Champion having regained her crown in South Korea last year. Stevenson’s dedication and commitment to taekwondo was recognised earlier this year when she received an MBE for her services to the sport.
Eight-time British Champion Martin Stamper will be looking to build on an extremely successful 2011 where he was named the Olympic Athlete of the Year for taekwondo, having won three gold medals - at the US, German and British Opens - a silver medal at the French Open, and World Championship bronze. His record of 27 wins from 29 fights last year will give him confidence ahead of what will be his first Olympic Games.
Welsh-born Olympic debutant Jade Jones is the youngest member of the team. She is the current reigning Youth Olympic Champion after becoming the very first Team GB athlete to claim a Youth Olympic title at Singapore in 2010. Jones made the step up to senior level by winning 2010 European Championships bronze in St Petersburg before claiming the silver medal at the 2011 World Championships.
The addition of the taekwondo athletes brings the total number of athletes officially selected to Team GB for London 2012 to 131 across thirteen sport disciplines: archery, athletics – marathon, badminton boxing, canoe slalom, fencing, hockey, sailing, shooting, swimming, synchronised swimming, taekwondo and table tennis.
The athletes were formally nominated to the BOA for selection to Team GB by GB Taekwondo, the National Governing Body for taekwondo in the UK.
Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt said:
Team GB Taekwondo Team Leader Gary Hall said:
Martin Stamper said:
Sarah Stevenson said:
Jade Jones said: