“I can’t wait to represent my country on the world stage at Tokyo 2020.”
4th April 2019
Wales’ taekwondo champion, Jade Jones, tells how National Lottery funding has enabled her to become the world champion that she is today
Flint’s golden girl, Jade Jones, became a double Olympic champion by the age of 23 when she won gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and she is one of hundreds of elite athletes in the UK funded by the National Lottery, allowing her to train full time to reach her full potential. She is currently training hard with the goal of winning Olympic gold once again, this time in Tokyo 2020.
Jade said: “Growing up in Flintshire, I had the desire, commitment, vision and support to succeed, but I didn’t have access to world-class facilities and training programmes to pursue and realise my dream of becoming an Olympic champion. It was in fact my grandfather who introduced me to the sport. The National Taekwondo Centre in Manchester has the most incredible facilities where we can all train together and have access to the best equipment, the finest coaches and the best medical support.”
The state-of-the-art facility which is part of the Ten Acres Lane Sports Complex in Manchester opened in 2016 with the support of National Lottery funding. It is used as a permanent base for Welsh taekwondo stars Jade Jones, Lauren Williams and Matt Bush and meets all their training and conditioning needs under one roof.
Over the last two months, the National Lottery has been running the National Lottery Lifechangers campaign in Wrexham and Flintshire to raise awareness of the amazing difference that the £30 million it awards every week for good causes across the UK has had in the area.
In fact, in Wrexham and Flintshire alone, the National Lottery has awarded around £101m to over 4,600 good causes since it was launched 25 years ago. Charities, community groups, grassroots sports projects, arts organisations, athletes, film makers, and heritage sites have reaped rewards from the funding and Jade Jones can see the difference it has made to her local area of Flintshire.
Jade said: “Inspiring the next generation and giving young people opportunities from an early age is so important and the National Lottery has not only supported myself throughout my career but has also funded thousands of worthwhile community projects where I grew up in Flintshire such as Mold Dragons wheelchair rugby team who train at Deeside.”
“It will ensure that GB Taekwondo continues to develop the best talent to secure podium places at the highest level, with many of us being from Wales and I can’t wait to represent the UK in Japan 2020.”
Notes to editors
National Lottery players raise £30 million every week for good causes across the UK, funding a wide and varied range of good causes – they support local communities, build world-class facilities and visitor destinations, power sports teams, protect the environment, unleash creative talent, look after the elderly and unlock youthful potential. In addition, support from the National Lottery wins Olympic medals and Oscars.
In October 2018, there were 66,620 people registered with a physical or sensory disability, of these, 59% were registered with having only a physical disability.
Over £1.75 billion of National Lottery funding has been invested into around 50,000 arts, heritage, sport and community projects in Wales since 1994.
For further information, please contact Ffion Rees (ffion.rees@workingword.co.uk) or Daniel Tyte (daniel.tyte@workingword.co.uk) at Working Word on 029 2045 5182.