Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones interview Team GB’s Caden Cunningham, as he hopes to win a medal at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.
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00:00Paris is on the verge of welcoming the world for the Summer Olympic Games.
00:07Two weeks of competition await the world's best athletes, with the British contingent
00:11hoping for medal glory in their various disciplines across the Games.
00:18Historically in Taekwondo, Britain have won nine medals at the Olympic Games, including
00:23two golds.
00:24One young athlete hoping to improve those figures is Caden Cunningham.
00:28He spoke about his hopes ahead of the Games.
00:32So, yeah, the nerves, everyone has their different level of nerves.
00:36I assumed once I started getting towards the top and I won my first title of something
00:40and I won the first big comp, that I'd settle, but it seems to have only doubled.
00:45So I assume by the Olympics I'll be just as nervous, if not, well, likely more so.
00:51But from the competition I'm expecting and hoping it's smoothly run, there's no interruptions,
00:55there's no problems like that, and it's easy to watch for viewers at home.
00:59But for myself, a lot of people there are people I've either fought before or I've seen
01:04on the circuit, and I hold myself to a high regard.
01:07I am one of the best heavyweights, so it's a stage for me to get tight, build tight Taekwondo
01:15for the UK, but also, like, sort of earn what I've been working towards for so long and
01:19win that gold.
01:22And obviously only 20 years old, you've got time to get to multiple Olympic Games, really,
01:28throughout your career.
01:29What are your aims for Paris?
01:31You know, you've mentioned you are high on confidence, but is it a case of just sort
01:35of test the waters and see what an Olympic Games is all about?
01:38Yeah, I'll be trying to take it in as much as I can because of the experience, but I'll
01:47be very much so there with the mindset of I am the one who is going to become Olympic
01:51champion on August the 10th.
01:53I then asked Caden, who is one of 1,000 UK athletes to receive national lottery funding,
01:59on just how confident he is to become another UK Taekwondo medal winner at the Olympics,
02:05adding to the figure of nine medals, including two golds.
02:08Yeah, 100%.
02:09I'm going to add to that.
02:11Brad Dessiner will be competing before me, so he's going to become the first male Olympic
02:16champion.
02:17But I won't mind taking the second one, as long as we both get that gold and what we're
02:23deserving to earn.
02:24Just on Paris, we've seen incredible city, lots of history throughout that city.
02:29How sort of are you pleased that it's a place that's quite close to home as well for an
02:34Olympic Games and it's in a fantastic city to make your debut?
02:38Yeah.
02:39Being in Paris is just a little short trip over the water.
02:43The time difference isn't a lot.
02:47Any competition I've been to in Paris has been quite well run and there's loads of fans
02:52and they're very vocal, so I think it'll be a good place to have a Taekwondo competition.