By Peter Rutherford

LONDON (Reuters) - Jade Jones won Britain's first Olympic taekwondo gold medal after beating China's Hou Yuzhuo in the final of the women's featherweight division at the London Games on Thursday.

Jones, who had lost to Hou in the final of last year's world championships, rode a wave of support from the home crowd to bully her way past the Chinese fighter, running out a 6-4 winner to earn Britain's 25th gold of the Games.

The 19-year-old from north Wales grabbed British and Welsh flags from the crowd and raced around in a lap of honor as the 8,000 fans in the ExCel arena roared her on.

Jones was in fearsome form in the opening two rounds, overwhelming her opponents 15-1 and 13-3, and despite facing a serious step up in class against world number one Tseng Li-cheng in the semi-final Jones simply forced her way into the final.

The first two rounds of the gold medal match were cagey, but heading into the third Jones had sneaked a 2-0 lead.

With Hou desperate to get back on level terms, Jones bided her time and landed kicks to her opponent's midsection to seal the gold medal.

Marlene Harnois of France and Taiwan's Tseng won the bronze medals after the repechage competition.

(Editing by Michael Holden)