Natasha Jonas , the first female boxer to represent Great Britain in an Olympic Games , has announced her retirement from the sport . The Liverpool-born 30-year-old made history when she took on eventual gold medallist Katie Taylor of Ireland in the first round of the women 's lightweight competition at London 2012 . Jonas , a former world and European bronze medallist , said : 'It just felt like the right time to retire . 'Being away from camp to recover from my recent injury has given me time to think and I just came to the conclusion that I did not want to go back to the demands of full-time training . Natasha Jonas has announced that she will retire from boxing after a successful career in the ring . '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 . ' Although Jonas lost her bout with Taylor , she was widely praised for her performance in front of a crowd which registered the loudest noise of any event at the 2012 Games at 113.7 decibels . The 30-year-old made history when she became the first female boxer to represent GB in the Olympics . Great Britain team-mate and Olympic champion Nicola Adams said : ' 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 . She will be missed by all of the team . '
Natasha Jonas has announced her retirement from the world of boxing . The 30-year-old was the first female to represent Britain at the Olympics . Jonas won the bronze medals at the world and European championships . CLICK HERE for all the latest boxing news .