Taekwondo British star Cunningham believes he is Olympic champion level. GETTY IMAGES

British Taekwondo athlete Caden Cunningham is improving his results year-by-year. He made his way to senior’s elite with two medals at the Grand Prix at the age of 19. In 2023 Cunningham won gold medals at the European Games and Rome Grand Prix. In 2024 the young athlete won his first continental title, and now is preparing for his first Olympic Games.

Competing in the super heavyweight division, Cunningham has to face bigger opponents, but it is not a big problem for the 21-year old athlete. 

“For me, it’s about building an ego and pride when you get into the ring. A lot of these guys are bigger and older than me. I’m not small, but I’m not a big heavyweight. Most of these have five or six inches on me, and ten years’ experience. So most fights I’m the underdog and I go out there and think, I’ll kick you in the face, let’s get it on,” said Cunningham to Yahoo.Sports.

“I rise to challenges. If I relax and perform right, I’m Olympic champion level. I’m confident I’ll be able to show that on August 10.” The ambitious athlete is aiming for nothing but a gold medal in Paris.

“For anyone to go to the Olympics and not go for gold, you should hold yourself to a higher standard. You almost want to manifest it, speak it into existence. But also, I decided I was going to go to these Olympics ten years ago, I didn’t decide I was going to participate, I’m going to win.

Caden Cunningham (red) does not fear bigger opponents. GETTY IMAGES
Caden Cunningham (red) does not fear bigger opponents. GETTY IMAGES

“This Olympics is an opportunity to fight the best I can in front of the most people. It’s the biggest mental and physical challenge I’ll go through in my taekwondo career, so what could go wrong? It’s the best opportunity I could get.

The new-crowned European champion is ready to unleash everything he has been working towards. “I feel like you can never be fully prepared for something like this but I feel like I’m in a good head space, I feel like I know what’s coming.

"I’m going to go out there, it’s man versus man, we’re going to have a fight and make sure I’m the better man. Four fights, come away with my gold and all of it will have been worth it.” Along with double Olympic champion Jade Jones and Tokyo 2020 runner-up Bradly Sinden, Sinden is improving every day and will be one of the biggest threats in Paris.

“I was a very edgy fighter when I was younger, all I wanted to do was kick, kick, kick. But taekwondo is a game, a point-scoring game so for me it’s about being relaxed and how I can play the game with my own flavour of fight there,” concluded Cunningham.