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Full name | Frances Williamson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Sunderland, England | 16 June 1985|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | Chris Whitaker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | freestyle, backstroke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Colchester Phoenix | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Frances Williamson (born 16 June 1985) is a retired British Paralympic swimmer. Williamson competed in the S3 classification mainly in the freestyle and backstroke preferring shorter distances. She participated in two Summer Paralympic Games winning six medals. At the 2006 IPC World Championships she won three gold medals including the 50m backstroke S3, which she successfully defended four years later at Eindhoven.
Williamson was born in 1985 in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. [1] She was born with athetoid cerebral palsy, which affects her movement, motor skills and speech. [1] In 1988 her family moved to Malawi, returning after five years, Williamson eventually settling in Cambridge. [1] She matriculated to Anglia Ruskin University where she was awarded a First Class degree in Social Policy. [2] She later returned to education to complete a master's degree in Disability Studies at Leeds University. [2]
Williamson has also received an Honorary Doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University and a Honorary Fellowship from The University of Sunderland.
In July 2014, Williamson married Dr Chris Whitaker at the Selwyn College Chapel, Cambridge University. Fran now goes by both Fran Williamson and Fran Whitaker.
Williamson was introduced to swimming as a child and began competing while at secondary school, having been terrified of water during her primary years. [1] She was classified as a S3 classification swimmer and her first competitive meet as part of the Great Britain team was in 2001 at the European Championships in Stockholm. [1] In 2002 Williamson travelled to Mar del Plata in Argentina to represent Great Britain at her first IPC Swimming World Championships. She took part in five events, winning a medal in each including a gold as part of the 4x50m Freestyle Relay (20 Points). In her individual events she won two silvers and two bronze. [1]
Williamson qualified for the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens and entered into the 50m Freestyle S3, 100m Freestyle S3, 50m Backstroke S3 and the 4x50m freestyle relay (20 Points). In the 4x50m freestyle relay, Williamson was joined by team mates Jeanette Chippington, Mhairi Love and Jane Stidever. They finished well behind the winning Japanese team but edged out the American team by a twentieth of a second to claim silver. [3] Williamson also won silver in the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke, and a third place bronze medal in the 100m freestyle. [1]
In 2005 an operation to repair damage to a tendon in her ankle resulted in a nine-month absence from swimming, but she returned to the sport in 2006. [1] At the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships in Durban, Williamson won her first individual gold medal at a major international meet when she won the 50m backstroke S3, beating the Olympic champion Annke Conradi who finished in third place. She took two further golds in the 20-point freestyle and medley relays, and added silver in the 50m and 200m freestyle S3. [1]
Williamson only had two events available to her in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. Battling from a serious shoulder injury, which later required reconstruction, Williamson's ability to compete was questioned on numerous occasions. Nevertheless, despite excruciating pain, she fought through both of her Paralympic events.
The first being the 50m freestyle S3. In the heats Williamson came third behind Yip Pin Xiu of Singapore and Patricia Valle of Mexico, but all three women set faster times than the winner of the other heat. In the final Valle took gold, Yip silver and Williamson bronze. [4]
Two days later on 15 September, Williamson entered her final Paralympic event, the 50m backstroke S3. Although qualifying easily in second place, she finished almost nine seconds behind Yip of Singapore who set a new world record. In the final Williamson recorded a time of 1:06.75 which was enough to secure second place and her fourth career Paralympic silver medal. [5]
After reconstructive surgery in 2008/2009, Williamson entered her final IPC World Championship, held in Eindhoven in 2010. There she successfully defended her 50m backstroke title, taking gold. She followed this with a silver in the 50m freestyle S3 and a bronze in the 4x50 medley freestyle. She followed this with two bronze medals at the European Championships in Berlin, but this was to be her final major international competition but just two months later Williamson announced her retirement from competitive swimming. She cited the quality of the next generation of athletes coming through the system would make a podium finish at the 2012 Paralympics in London difficult. [6]
Fran was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University and an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Sunderland. These added to her First Class Degree in Social Policy from Anglia Ruskin University. As well as a Masters Degree in Disability Studies from the University of Leeds.
Fran is now the founder and owner of The Happy Journals Group - a collection of websites centred around personal development, and using & creating journals. The most popular of these being The Happy Journals, The Happy Journals PLR Club, and She Creates Colour.
In October 2024, Fran and her husband, Chris Whitaker, founded Purple Advantage - a company to help organisations make greater use of disability talent in the workplace and unlock the competitive advantages this brings.
Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-born American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at six Paralympic Games, winning 30 medals. She has won over 50 world championship medals.
Vyacheslav ("Slava") Viktorovych Shyrshov is a freestyle swimmer from Ukraine, who won the gold medal in the men's 50 metres freestyle event at the 2003 Summer Universiade in Daegu. He represented his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000 in Sydney, Australia.
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Yip Pin Xiu is a Singaporean backstroke swimmer. She is a six-time Paralympic gold medalist and four-time World Champion, with two world records in the 50 m backstroke S2 and the 100 m backstroke S2. Yip is Singapore's most decorated Paralympian and Southeast Asia's most decorated swimming Paralympian.
Ellie Victoria Cole, is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progressed more rapidly than instructors had predicted. She began competitive swimming in 2003 and first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, where she won a silver medal. Since then, she has won medals in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympic Games, the IPC Swimming World Championships, and various national championships.
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Jessica-Jane Applegate MBE is a British Paralympic swimmer. Applegate competes in the S14 classification for swimmers with intellectual disabilities, mainly freestyle and backstroke preferring shorter distances. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics and on 2 September, Applegate won the gold setting a Paralympic record in the S14 200m freestyle.
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Tiffany Thomas Kane, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, winning a gold and three bronze medals, and at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a further two bronze medals.
Alice Tai, is a British paralympic swimmer. Tai competes in the SB8, SM8 and S8. She has represented Great Britain at European and World Championships and at the Commonwealth and Paralympic Games, gold medals at all levels.
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Jeanette Clare Chippington, is a British Paralympic swimmer and paracanoeist. Chippington has represented Great Britain at seven Paralympics, five in swimming Summer Paralympics, 1988 Seoul, 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. Competing as a S6 classification swimmer she favoured mainly 50 m and 100m freestyle competitions. After retiring from swimming Chippington returned to disability sport, becoming a world class paracanoeist, winning gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and bronze at 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
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