Team GB star Jade Jones, who won Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016, insisted she is not a drugs cheat after suffering a shock first round taekwondo defeat to North Macedonia’s Miljana Reljikj.
Jones avoided punishment by the UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) for a doping violation at the end of last year after failing to provide a urine sample.
“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,” Jones said as she spoke publicly for the first time about the incident.
“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.”