Wales Celebrate 200 Days to London 2012. 09 January 2012

Wales has much to look forward to from its Team GB athletes, according to one of the country’s top sports leaders, as the UK today (Monday 9 January 2012) celebrates 200 days to go until the grand opening of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Chair of Sport Wales, Professor Laura McAllister, said: “Today marks 200 days to go to the London Olympics and it is very exciting to reach the home straight with the goal now clearly in sight.

“The Beijing Olympics were extremely successful for Wales and we will be looking to build on that with the likes of hurdler Dai Greene, triathlete Helen Jenkins, sailor Hannah Mills, boxers Fred Evans and Andrew Selby, and rower Tom James.

“Don’t forget that Wales also won a quarter of Team GB’s Paralympic gold medals in 2008, so we have justifiably high expectations for the London Paralympics too.

One of Wales’ brightest prospects is 18-year-old taekwondo star, Jade Jones, from Flint in North Wales. The -57kg fighter, who won gold at the 2010 Youth Olympics and a World Championship silver in 2011, only stepped up to senior level last year but is already hotly tipped for medal success on home soil.

After seeing her weight category chosen for the London Games, Jones admits that the prospect of competing on home territory - and landing GB Taekwondo’s first Olympic gold medal - is spurring her on to ensure her full selection to the Olympic team.

“I’m really excited about being involved in a home Games,” she said.

“It’s a one in a lifetime chance and I’m not going to get this again. For it to be in London is amazing, especially for my first Olympics.  I know everybody wants to be a part of it, so I’m very lucky.”

Hard work and raw talent, rather than luck, have fuelled Jade’s remarkably swift rise to success. So confident is the current British Open Champion that she has vowed to settle for nothing less than top spot on the podium come 9 August at the Excel Centre in London.

She adds: “My aim is definitely nothing less than gold. I know it’s going to be so hard because there’s already 12 people qualified for the Olympics, and every person’s hard, so every single fight is going to be like my life depends on it. It’s my first Olympics, and I’m only 18, so I’m just going to give it everything I can and see what happens.

“It’s been going great so far, I’ve had a really good year. Every competition I’ve been to I’ve medalled. Even if it’s not gold every time I’m still up there. So hopefully it’s the same this year and I just keep training, and trying to make every little thing better, and then see how it goes at the London 2012 Olympics.”

Professor McAllister continues: “We want Wales to be world renowned as a successful sporting nation, where winning is expected, but we’re also keen that we make the most of what will be the biggest marketing campaign for sport and being active. We all need to be ready to capture the sporting demand that the Games will create – in our communities and in our schools. We must make the most of the fact that the Games is on home soil.”