The fighter from Liverpool first put herself on the map in international terms by winning bronze at the 2007 European Junior Championships in Baku, and since then the list of her accomplishments has grown steadily.

She returned to Baku for the first of her three senior European titles in 2014, and earned her first world gold the following year in Chelyabinsk, becoming only the second Briton to earn a global title after Sarah Stevenson's triumphs in 2001 and 2011.

At her first Olympics at Rio 2016 she lost her quarter-final 4-1 after sudden death to China's Zheng Shuyin, who went on to take gold.

Three years later, after Walkden had retained her world title in Muju, South Korea, she earned her third global gold in controversial circumstances which saw her beaten opponent in the final, Zheng, collapse in tears on the podium at the 2019 World Championships in Manchester.

Despite being 20-10 up against Walkden in the women's heavyweight final, China's Rio 2016 champion was disqualified for incurring ten fouls after her opponent had repeatedly pushed her off the mat.

The tactic employed by Walkden, who thus earned her third consecutive world title, was considered unsportsmanlike by some but was nevertheless within the rules, and the British athlete was quite satisfied with the outcome, declaring: "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Walkden's change of tactic had occurred after Zheng, who had already accrued seven penalty points, had become inactive after taking a ten-point lead. 

When the result was announced there was booing in the arena, and Zheng's coach gave the officials a thumbs-down sign.

But after the Chinese athlete had dropped to her knees on the podium, Britain's performance director Gary Hall took issue with her "disrespectful manner".

Walkden defended her tactics, saying: "I went out there needing to find a different way to win and a win is a win if you disqualify someone - it's not my fault."

After the COVID-19 wilderness year of 2020, Walkden - who has been in a relationship with fellow taekwondo player Aaron Cook, British-born but representing Moldova since 2008 - had the ideal preparation for her second Olympics.

Having won the European title for a second time in 2016, she added her third with victory in the over-73kg category in Sofia.

Walkden went to the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games as number one seed in the women's over-67kg category and received a bye in her first round when her opponent Reshmie Oogink of The Netherlands tested positive for COVID-19.

After a 17-7 quarter-final win over Kazakhstan's Cansel Deniz, she faced South Korea's 2019 world champion in the under-73kg class, Lee Da-bin, and lost a desperately close encounter 25-24, with her opponent going on to take silver after a 10-7 defeat in the final by Serbia's Milica Mandić.

But Walkden did not walk away empty-handed as she earned a second Olympic bronze with a 7-3 win over Poland's Aleksandra Kowalczuk.