Double Olympic champion Jade Jones has vehemently denied allegations of drug use after her attempt to make taekwondo history in Paris was cut short in the first round.
“I’m obviously not on drugs, I just lost,” the Flint fighter declared. Jones, 31, avoided punishment from the UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) for a doping violation in December last year when she failed to provide a urine sample.
UKAD referred to “very exceptional circumstances” linked to confidential medical records and stated there was “no fault or negligence for her refusal”.
The Welsh athlete had signed a document stating she was unable to provide a sample due to dehydration training before a weigh-in, which involved not eating or drinking. Later that day, she provided a sample which tested negative.
She had been provisionally suspended before being cleared.
Speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, Jones asserted: “I can confirm that I’ve never taken drugs. I’ve done hundreds of tests and since then I’ve done 13 more tests – more than ever. I’m obviously not on drugs, I just lost.
“I’m very grateful to people for looking into it properly. I made a mistake. They came on dehydration day, I wasn’t in the right mind. You’re losing weight and you haven’t eaten or drank for a few days.
“I needed to dehydrate. I become stressed. I thought you could miss three. I signed a piece of paper but I didn’t know what I was signing.
“I was lucky they looked into it and it all got sorted and it got proven I was innocent. I am just so grateful, blessed that they looked into it, that I was cleared, I was in no fault. It was a big story. It wasn’t one thing..I was grateful to be here.”
Jones, who won gold in London 2012 at the age of 19 and successfully defended her title in Rio, had been aiming to make history as the first three-time Olympic champion in her sport.
However, she suffered a first-round defeat in the -57kg category to Miljana Reljikj after the match ended in a draw and the Macedonian advanced on a tiebreaker based on the number of registered hits.
Reflecting on her loss, Jones, who is now contemplating retirement, expressed: “I’m devastated. I came here to win, I thought I could win, and on the day I didn’t have the balls that it took and that made the difference.
“It was the expectation, the pressure, obviously I was trying to do something no one had done. I knew I could be good enough and then when it comes down to it sometimes you just freeze, you want it too much almost.
“I just wasn’t letting my legs go, wasn’t listening to my coach, not in the zone. Was I in shape? Yeah, physically but obviously not mentally. It (the drug test issue) didn’t help but that’s not reason why I lost.”
