Lack of hunger sees Stevenson move into coaching role with one eye on Rio

Doncaster’s two-time world taekwondo champion is to take up a coaching role at the elite level of the sport she dominated for more than a decade.

Stevenson’s last fight was a first-round defeat at London 2012, but arguably her greatest victory came when she won the world title in 2011 while her mother and father fought serious illness.

“Coming through despite my parents both suffering and not being able to come and support me is probably my biggest achievement,” said Stevenson, 30. “It went beyond sport. It touched people who didn’t know about taekwondo. It was a way of saying you can still achieve your dreams no matter what is happening in your personal life.”

Stevenson’s father Roy died of a brain tumour in July, 2011, and her mother Diana lost her battle against cancer three months later.

That she made it to a fourth Olympics in London was one of the more uplifting stories of London 2012. Her finest moment at a Games came in Beijing when she fought back from a controversial defeat to win bronze, but as an Olympian since the age of 17 and a first British world champion a year later, she blazed a trail for the sport in this country.

“I don’t think I could have done any more than I have done,” she said. “The last couple of years I did my absolute best and I’m happy with the decision I’ve made. The hunger hasn’t come back to me, and I can’t wait for it. If it’s not there, it’s not there.”

The next chapter for Stevenson is coaching, primarily taking talented youngsters on the road to Rio 2016.

“I’m really excited about it,” she said. “I want to put everything into coaching and helping these young stars be the best they can be.”