Taekwondo world champion Bradly Sinden taking positives out of 12-month Olympic wait

Taekwondo star Bradly Sinden is taking it all in his stride after his Olympic debut was put on hold for a year.
Bradly Sinden. Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty ImagesBradly Sinden. Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
Bradly Sinden. Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

The 21-year-old, from Stainforth, was crowned Britain's first men's able-bodied world champion in the sport in Manchester last May.

He was expected to be on the plane to Tokyo this summer but the 12-month delay is no big deal for him – and he admits it may even work in his favour.

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"Tokyo was a goal but coming into the seniors with zero ranking points, it was always going to be a stretch to be up there and challenging, and 2024 seemed more realistic," Sinden told the PA news agency.

Bradly Sinden. Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty ImagesBradly Sinden. Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
Bradly Sinden. Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

"When I won my first world medal in 2017 I realised I had a chance. I went into the 2019 worlds in really good form, beat one of the best fighters in the world, and everything just panned out the way I wanted."

"For as long as I remembered I had two major goals - I wanted to be a taekwondo athlete, and I wanted to win the worlds and the Olympics," he continued.

"I didn't expect to tick one of them off so soon, and it felt a bit surreal.

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“I woke up the next morning and didn't feel any different, and it took a few days to realise the extent of what I'd actually done.

"Straight after that, it was back into training because the next goal is the Olympics. After that, it's a case of setting your goal for what you want to do next.

"You've got to recognise what the goal is. It's still in the end the Olympic Games and at least now we know when it's going to be, and we're not in the position of 'is it going to happen?'

"I've got to take the positives out of it. Since I became a full-time athlete I've improved tenfold year on year, so following that trend I can be so much better with another year of practice.

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"I've always said I want to do a minimum of two Olympics, and stay in the sport until my body says it's time to stop.

"If I win Olympic gold next year I'll figure out what my goal is - I might want to prove I can do it all again."

Sinden is following in the footsteps of Doncaster’s Sarah Stevenson, Britain's first Olympic taekwondo medallist and former double world champion.

He came from behind to triumph over Spain’s Javier Polo Perez in last year’s -68kg world final.