The five-time national England Boxing champion defeated the United States' Quinatta Underwood in the first round of the lightweight division at London 2012, but fell to defeat in the quarter-final to the eventual gold medallist Katie Taylor of Ireland.

Jonas then competed for England at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and claimed bronze at the 2012 World Championships in Qinhuangdao, China, while she also earned a silver and a bronze medal in the light-welterweight division at the 2014 and 2011 European Championships respectively.

The 30-year-old has now opted to end her career and will no longer be part of the GB Boxing team as the build-up continues to Rio 2016, and she has also been released from the World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) for boxing.

"It just felt like the right time to retire," Jonas said of her decision.

"Boxing is an extremely tough sport and very few people ever see the training and hard work that goes into it and after doing it for a long time, I just decided that it was time to do something else."

"When I started boxing 10 years ago I was an overweight, unemployed scally from Toxteth and if you'd have told me then that I would win a World Championship medal and compete in front of 10,000 people at the Olympic Games I would never have believed it, so I am very proud to have achieved those things and done so well in the sport.

"I have been to some great places, had some amazing experiences and being able to share them with such a fantastic group of people is something I will treasure forever."

Natasha Jonas was defeated by Ireland's Katie Taylor in the lightweight division at the London 2012 Olympics ©Getty Images





Jonas began boxing to lose weight after her football career was curtailed by an injury and was selected alongside Savannah Marshall and Nicola Adams to be part of the first ever women's GB Boxing squad to train full-time at the English Institute of Sport Sheffield.

Adams, the reigning flyweight champion at London 2012 and Glasgow 2014, paid tribute to her teammate saying "I have trained, competed and travelled all over the world with Natasha for the last five years so will be really sad to see her leave."

"Over the years she has been a brilliant campaigner for the sport and has done so much to progress women's boxing in this country.

"She was the first woman to ever box for Great Britain, the first to qualify for the Olympics and the first to box at the Games, so she has achieved a lot and been a great ambassador for the sport.

Outside of the ring Jonas has been a mentor for the Youth Sport Trust for four years where she aims to promote sport and healthy lifestyles to school children, while she has also spoken at the House of Commons on the importance to grassroots sport.

Additionally Jonas has supported initiatives run by England Boxing, while she has also been a regular on Sky Sports coverage of boxing and was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary titled Knockout Scousers, which followed her progress towards London 2012, with women's boxing making its debut at the Olympics. 

"Natasha has been a stalwart of the squad since the women's boxing programme was first established in 2010 and she can be proud of her achievements in representing her country on many occasions, boxing at the Olympics and winning medals at major international competitions," Rob McCracken, GB Boxing's Performance Director, said.

"Natasha will remain part of the GB Boxing family and will always be welcome to visit our gym and spend time with our boxers to pass on her knowledge and experience and provide them with an insight into what it takes to win medals at major international tournaments and become an Olympian."

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