20102012 Jones won a bronze medal in the 53 kg category at the
2010 European Championships in
Saint Petersburg, and a silver medal in the
World Juniors Taekwondo Championships. Then, with the help of her local community in
Flint who raised money for her expenses, she travelled to
Mexico to take part in qualifying for the inaugural
Summer Youth Olympics. At the end of 2010, Jones was named British taekwondo athlete of the year by the
British Olympic Association, as well as the
BBC Cymru Wales Junior Sportswoman of the Year. Jones won her first senior title at the U.S. Open in
Austin, Texas in February 2011. She won gold in the 62 kg division having won bronze in the 57 kg competition the previous day. She then reached the final of the German Open where she was defeated by
Ana Zaninovic. At the
2011 World Championships in
Gyeongju, Jones advanced to the final of the
57 kg event after beating
Marlène Harnois of France in the semi-finals. She ended the competition with the silver medal after losing the final to China's
Hou Yuzhuo to a golden-point in a sudden-death round. In recognition of her progress, Jones was given the Bob Humphrys Award at the SportingWales Rising Star Awards. In October, Jones won a gold medal at the British Open in Manchester by defeating Harnois in the final, before losing to Harnois in the semi-finals of the French Open in December. At the 2012 German Open in
Hamburg, Jones won a silver medal after losing to Yun Wang in the final. She won a bronze medal at the
European Championships in
Manchester, after being beaten by Hungary's
Edina Kotsis. Jones was then selected to compete for Great Britain at the
2012 Summer Olympics in the
57 kg weight category. At the games, Jones beat the top seed
Tseng Li-Cheng in the semi-finals, having beaten
Mayu Hamada in the quarter-finals. In the final, she beat China's Hou Yuzhuo 6–4 to become the first Briton to win an Olympic taekwondo gold medal. Great Britain's previous best result was a bronze medal achieved by
Sarah Stevenson at the
2008 Beijing Olympics.
2013–2016 Jones commenced 2013 with a first-round loss at the Trelleborg Open to
Martina Zubcic, but she bounced back in March with victory at the German Open, claiming a win over Daria Zhuravleva in the gold medal match. In July, she lost by a golden-point to Hamada at the
2013 World Championships. With the scores tied at 2–2, their bout entered a sudden-death round and it was Hamada who landed the next strike. Her quarter-final exit left Jones "devastated". At the end of the year, she competed in the
World Grand Prix event in Manchester where she finished with a silver medal, after a defeat by Spain's
Eva Calvo Gomez. Reflecting back on 2013, Jones said that her defeat at the World Championships, coupled with a back injury, had taken away her enjoyment of the sport, and that she had lost her desire to train. She then stated that by the end of the year she had found her love for the sport again. In May 2014, Jones won silver at the
European Championships in
Baku. She led 9–6 against Eva Calvo Gomez but ended up losing the match 9–11. The following month, she won the Swiss Open in
Lausanne by defeating Eva Calvo Gomez in the final. In August, Jones won silver at the
World Grand Prix series event in
Astana, after falling to a golden-point defeat against Eva Calvo Gomez. In October, she reached another final in the World Grand Prix series, this time in Manchester, where she finished with silver after a defeat to Eva Calvo Gomez. She then won the World Grand Prix finals for the first time with a 73 victory over world number one Eva Calvo Gomez in
Querétaro, which ended a run of defeats against her opponent. At the 2015 Swiss Open, Jones won a golden-point to seal a 109 victory against Sweden's
Nikita Glasnovic in the 57 kg final after she had earlier trailed 0–8. She was caught up in controversy at the
2015 World Championships in Russia. She was defeated 9–10 by Iranian
Kimia Alizadeh at the quarter-finals stage of the event. During their bout, the electronic scoring system crashed when the scores were level at 9–9. At that moment, Jones landed with a shot to the chest and Alizadeh scored on the counter. When the scoreboard reset, Alizadeh's strike had been counted but Jones score had not and she was eliminated from the competition. The following month, she competed at the
European Games in Baku, where she triumphed 12–9 over Zaninovic to secure gold. In August, Jones won silver at the first leg of the
World Grand Prix series in
Moscow, after a defeat against Alizadeh, but the following month she was victorious at the next round of the series in
Samsun. There, she claimed a 6–3 victory against
Huang Yun-wen to clinch gold. Jones then won another gold at the next round in Manchester, triumphing 14–4 against Eva Calvo Gomez in the final. She finished the World Grand Prix series with a bronze medal in
Mexico City. Jones won gold at the 2016 German Open in April after opponent
Ivett Gonda withdrew from the final with injury. The competition marked Jones own return from a knee injury which had caused her to miss several events. In May, she became a
European champion for the first time, after claiming an 11–5 victory over Glasnovic in
Montreux. At the
2016 Summer Olympics in
Rio de Janeiro, Jones won her second Olympic gold medal in the
57 kg division. She progressed to the final with victories over
Naima Bakkal,
Raheleh Asemani and Glasnovic, before overcoming Eva Calvo Gomez 16–7 in the final, to defend the title she had won four years previously. Afterwards, Jones described how the pressure of being defending champion had left her emotional before her semi-final, saying: "I obviously knew I'd feel some pressure as the reigning Olympic champion but I didn't realise how much it would be." In December, Jones won gold again, this time at the
World Grand Prix in Baku. She defeated Egypt's
Hedaya Malak 7–0 in the final.
2017–2021 In early 2017, Jones appeared on the winter sports reality TV show
The Jump. This was against the wishes of both her coach Paul Green, and British Taekwondo, who were concerned that the show might be dangerous. She returned to taekwondo in April at the President's Cup in
Athens, where she claimed gold in the final against Ekaterina Kim. Jones stated that her break from the sport had given her the hunger to compete back. At the
2017 World Championships in
Muju, her attempt to win a first World Championship ended with an 8–14 defeat in the semi-finals to South Korea's
Lee Ah-reum, giving her a bronze medal instead. Jones then competed in the
World Grand Prix series. In
Rabat, she was defeated in the final by the Turkish competitor
Hatice Kübra İlgün, but she won gold at the next leg of the series in
London, triumphing over Lee 31–14 in the final. She then won gold again at the World Grand Prix finals in
Côte d'Ivoire, where she overcame Eva Calvo Gomez 26–7. Jones ended the year ranked number one in the world. Jones began 2018 with a quarter-finals defeat to
İrem Yaman at the Grand Slam series in China. Jones then retained her
European title with a golden-point victory over Kübra İlgün in
Kazan. In June, Jones claimed victory in the
World Grand Prix series event in
Rome, triumphing over
Marta Calvo Gomez 14–12 in the final. She won a further gold in October, at the World Grand Prix event in Manchester, beating
Zhou Lijun 11–4 in the final. Jones became a world champion for the first time at the
2019 World Championships in Manchester. She overcame Lee, the defending champion, 14–7 in the final. Jones said she was "desperate" to win the title and stated that her focus would now be on winning a third consecutive Olympic gold medal. In February 2020, Jones suffered a knee ligament injury at the President's Cup in
Sweden, which forced her to withdraw from the final. In April 2021, Jones became a
European champion for the third time after triumphing over Kübra İlgün 20–5 in
Sofia. Jones then competed at the delayed
2020 Olympic Games in
Tokyo, bidding to become the first competitor to win three Olympic taekwondo gold medals. She was drawn to face Alizadeh of the
Refugee Olympic Team in the opening round, and Jones was eliminated, losing 12–16. Reflecting on her loss, Jones said the absence of her family (due to restrictions caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic in Japan), had affected her confidence and that she had felt trapped by fear.
2022–2024 In February 2022, Jones won gold at the President's Cup in
Albania. There, she defeated Glasnovic in what was Jones' first competition since her early exit at the Olympics. At the
European Championships in Manchester, she finished with a bronze medal after a semi-finals defeat to
Patrycja Adamkiewicz. Jones claimed two silver medals during the
World Grand Prix series. In Rome, she lost 10–25 to China's
Luo Zongshi, and in Manchester she also finished runner-up after she was again beaten by Luo. Jones won a bronze medal at the
World Championships in Guadalajara after she suffered another defeat to Luo, this time in the semi-finals. At the
2023 World Championships, Jones exited in the quarter-finals after a defeat to
Lo Chia-ling in Baku. However, she then won gold at the
European Games in June, after overcoming Hungary's
Luana Marton 2–0 in
Krakow. At the
World Grand Prix series event in Rome, Jones claimed the gold medal after defeating reigning world champion
Nahid Kiyanichandeh of Iran. In the next round of the series in
Paris, Jones clinched another gold with a 2–0 victory over Luo. In December 2023, Jones was provisionally suspended after failing to supply a urine sample when requested by the
UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD). However, she was cleared to resume competition in July 2024, when UKAD ruled that confidential medical records showed Jones bore "no fault or negligence for her refusal or failure to submit to her sample collection" and stated it was satisfied not to punish her on the "very exceptional circumstances". Jones finished with silver at the
2024 European Championships in
Belgrade, after she was defeated by Croatia's
Nika Karabatić. She then headed to Paris for the
2024 Summer Olympics, where she again attempted to become the first person to win three taekwando gold medals. She was unsuccessful, losing to North Macedonia's
Miljana Reljiḱ in the last 16. Afterwards, a "gutted" Jones stated: "I came out today, I froze". == Boxing career ==