Team GB taekwondo athlete Caden Cunningham aiming Olympic glory

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.

Transcript

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.