Natasha Jonas, the first female boxer to represent Great Britain in an Olympic Games, announced her retirement from the sport yesterday.

The Liverpool 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 the London 2012 Olympics.

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.

“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.

Great Britain teammate 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.”

GB Boxing performance director Rob McCracken said: “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.

“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.”