Jade standing tall after facing fears

Published date29 November 2020
Date29 November 2020
Jade Slavin, 27, from Consett, used her height to her advantage and went on to represent Team GB in taekwondo at the age of 21 as well as bagging a modelling contract.

But the former pupil from St Bede's, in Lanchester, said it has taken a long time to accept herself after childhood bullies picked on her for her tall stature.

She said: "When I was a kid, I was really shy, I was really tall and I was picked on a bit.

"I was a bit different, I was really tall and had ginger hair so I was an easy target. I wouldn't speak because I was too scared that people would laugh at me.

"I used to hate being tall, I was so upset, I just wanted to be normal.

"My dad took me to taekwondo to help me gain confidence and learn self-defence."

Little did they know that Jade would fall in love with the sport and go on to compete amongst the world's best.

¦ Former taekwando

Jade first started when she was 9 and had her first competition at 13.

She joined the GB Academy in Manchester after she completed her three year sports exercise degree at Northumbria University.

And during her time, she went on to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and competed in the World Grand Prix which saw the very best around the world compete.

Jade said: "I qualified for the Grand Prix and I was competing against Olympic champions and world champions so just to be there was amazing.

"Taekwondo took me around the world and I was seeing places I would never usually go to. I loved seeing different places and different cultures and I have friends all over the world.

"I was always into sports, I did everything like football, netball, running but when I started taekwondo all the other sports fell away, I just loved it."

She said competing helped her confidence grow and has since encouraged people to try a...

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