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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname | Loz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Welsh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 25 February 1999 Blackwood, Wales, United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 176 cm (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 67 kg (148 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Taekwondo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | –67 kg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | GB Olympic Academy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | GBR | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Michael Harvey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest world ranking | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on 15 December 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lauren Williams (born 25 February 1999) is a Welsh taekwondo athlete who represents Great Britain.
Williams first practised kickboxing for ten years, but switched to taekwondo when she watched Jade Jones win a gold Olympic medal at the "Inspire A Generation" 2012 Summer Olympics. [1] [2] In kickboxing, she had won twelve World Championships titles and 20 European Championships titles. [3] After switching to taekwondo, Wiliams was first selected to be part of the British national team at age 14 and has since been training in Manchester. [4] [5]
In 2014 and 2016, Williams won two consecutive gold medals in the Junior World Championships, first in the 59 kg competition, then in the 68 kg competition. [6] [7] [8] As a senior, she competes in the 67 kg weight class and became European Champion in 2016 and 2018. [9] Additionally, she has received one European silver medal (in 2021) and one bronze (in 2022). [6]
In December 2018, Williams won the Grand Slam Series held in Wuxi, China. Williams has won two gold medals from the Grand Prix Series as well as two silver and two bronze medals, her latest bronze medal win being in Manchester in 2022. [6]
She qualified a quota place for Great Britain at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games through the automatic qualification for the top five ranked athletes in each Olympic weight category. In 2021 - as the Games were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic - Williams tore her right hamstring three weeks before the taekwondo fights yet won the Olympic silver medal in the under 67 kg weight category, only losing the final to Matea Jelić. Williams later expressed regret regarding the final, which she led by six points until the last ten seconds [10] when Jelić suddenly turned the match around, stating to have had a 'mental block' during the end of the last round. [11] [4]
At the 2021 Women Championships in Riyadh, Williams won a bronze medal. She participated in the 2022 and 2023 World Championships in Guadalajara and Baku, respectively. [12]
In 2022, she won a bronze medal in the 67 kg weight class at the European Championships and the Grand Prix, both times in Manchester. [6]
Due to a ruptured hamstring tendon at the 2023 Rome Grand Prix, she did not participate in the 2023 European Games in Kraków and underwent surgery in June. [13]
Jade Louise Jones is a Welsh taekwondo athlete. She is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist in the women's 57 kg category, and the 2019 World champion, 2016, 2018 and 2021 European champion and both 2015 European Games and 2023 European Games champion at the same weight, the only double gold medalist at her weight in the history of those Games. In 2012, she won Britain's first taekwondo Olympic gold medal. Jones was at the time the reigning Youth Olympic champion in the girls' 55 kg category, winning gold for Great Britain in 2010.
Bianca Cook, also known as Bianca Walkden, is an English taekwondo athlete and Olympian. She is three-times a World champion, twice World Grand Prix champion, four-times a European champion and a double Olympic medallist.
Melissa Pagnotta is a Canadian taekwondo fighter. Pagnotta participated at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first Ontario representative in that sport. She qualified to the 2016 Olympics by winning Silver at the Pan Am Olympic Qualification event in Aguascalientes Mexico. Pagnotta saw success at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara where she won gold in the lightweight class. She won a silver at the 2015 World Grand Prix in Moscow losing a close match to Korea in sudden death. She has won the Pan Am Championships 4x and Commonwealth Championships 3x. She is coached by Canadian National team coach Edward Fong in Richmond Hill, Ontario.
Alice Schlesinger is an Israeli-British retired judoka and sambo competitor. She is a shodan in Judo.
Lutalo Muhammad is a British retired taekwondo athlete who represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal, and the 2016 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal. He won the gold medal in the −87 kg class at the 2012 European Taekwondo Championships. He is the most successful male in British taekwondo history.
Lauren Louise Price is a Welsh professional boxer, former amateur boxer and former kickboxer and footballer. She has held the WBA, IBO, and Ring female welterweight World titles since 11 May 2024. She was the first-ever female British professional boxing champion having won the welterweight title on 6 May 2023 and holding it until vacating the belt when she became World champion. While representing Wales in the amateur sport she won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Welsh woman to win a Commonwealth Games boxing medal. Four years later she surpassed this achievement by winning gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, followed by a gold at the 2019 World Championships. While representing Great Britain, she won gold medals at the 2019 European Games and 2020 Summer Olympics.
İrem Yaman is a Turkish retired taekwondo athlete. He is a twice world champion, competing in the lightweight division, and an amateur kickboxer. In 2021, she retired from the taekwondo.
Tijana Bogdanović is a Serbian taekwondo athlete.
Hatice Kübra İlgün is a Turkish taekwondo practitioner. She has won a silver medal at the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships in the featherweight division.
Matea Jelić is a Croatian taekwondo athlete. She is the 2020 Olympic champion in 67 kg.
Nahid Kiani is an Iranian taekwondo athlete. She is the first Iranian woman to win a silver medal at the Olympics in the 2024 Summer Olympics, Taekwondo Women's 57 kg event, also she won the gold medal in the women's bantamweight event at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships.
Hakan Reçber is a Turkish taekwondo athlete. He won the gold medal in the men's bantamweight event at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships held in Baku, Azerbaijan. He is an Olympic bronze medalist in the Men's 68 kg competition. He won the gold medal at the 2021 European Taekwondo Championships and 2022 European Taekwondo Championships on the bantamweight (−63 kg) category.
Aaliyah Powell is a British taekwondo practitioner. Powell fought initially in the bantamweight competitions before moving up to lightweight. She has won World Championship bronze medals in both weight classes.
Rebecca McGowan is a Scottish taekwondo practitioner. She is twice a medalist in the women's +73 kg event at the World Taekwondo Championships. She is also three-times a medalist, including gold, in this event at the European Taekwondo Championships.
Avishag Semberg is an Israeli Olympic taekwondo athlete. She is an Olympic bronze medalist for Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the women's 49 kg competition. She won Israel's all-time tenth Olympic medal, and is the youngest Israeli to receive an Olympic medal, at the age of 19. Semberg represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women's taekwondo -49 kg category. Saudi athlete Dunya Abutaleb defeated Semberg in the first round.
Ela Aydin is a German taekwondo athlete. Her greatest achievements are a bronze medal at the 2022 Grand Prix in Paris and two bronze medals at European Championships.
Feruza Sadikova is an Uzbekistani taekwondo practitioner. In 2019, she won a bronze medal at the World Military Games, and in 2021, she won the Asian Taekwondo Championship. She has also won bronze medals twice at the World Championship, is a winner of the Islamic Solidarity Games, and a silver medalist at the Summer Asian Games.
Supharada "Anya" Kisskalt is a German taekwondo athlete.
Lorena Brandl is a German taekwondo athlete. She is the 2024 European Champion and 2022 world bronze medallist in the women's +73 kg weight category.
Merve Dinçel Kavurat, also known as Merve Kavurat, is a Turkish taekwondo athlete. She won the gold medal in the women's flyweight event at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships.
