| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | 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(s) | –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 becoming Olympic Champion in 2012. In kickboxing, she had won twelve World Championships titles and 20 European Championships titles. [1] 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. [2] [3] Since she was too young to move into the athlete's dormitories provided by the British Taekwondo, her mother and her lived in a touring caravan while William's father and sister stayed behind in Wales. [4]
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. [5] [6] [7] As a senior, she competes in the 67 kg weight class and became European Champion in 2016 and 2018. [8] Additionally, she has received one European silver medal (in 2021) and one bronze (in 2022). [5]
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. [5]
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 [9] when Jelić suddenly turned the match around, stating to have had a 'mental block' during the end of the last round. [10] [2]
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. [11]
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. [5]
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. [12]
Bat-El Gatterer is an Israeli Olympic taekwondo athlete. She was the women's 2010 European featherweight champion.
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 two-time 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 a British taekwondo athlete and Olympian. She is a three-time World champion, twice World Grand Prix champion, four-time 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. Born in Israel, she competed for that country until 2014, but following a dispute with the national federation she has started competing for Great Britain, of whom she is a citizen through her English-born mother.
Lutalo Muhammad is a British 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 British welterweight title since May 2023, and is the first female to hold the title. 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.
Panipak "Tennis" Wongpattanakit is a Thai taekwondo athlete. She is currently the top-ranked athlete in the women's 49kg.
İrem Yaman is a twice world champion Turkish taekwondo athlete competed in the lightweight division, and an amateur kickboxer. In 2021, she retired from the taekwondo.
Tijana Bogdanović is a Serbian taekwondo athlete. She considers fellow taekwondo practitioner Milica Mandić as her idol.
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.
Skylar M.-Y. Park is a Canadian taekwondo athlete. She won the gold medal at the 2018 Pan American Taekwondo Championships on the women's 57 kg weight category. She represented Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the women's 57 kg weight category.
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.
Milena Titoneli Guimarães is a Brazilian taekwondo fighter. She won the gold medal in the women's 67 kg event at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru and the 2021 Pan American Taekwondo Championships in Cancún, Mexico. She is also a two-time bronze medalist in this event at the World Taekwondo Championships.
Svetlana Osipova is a Uzbekistani taekwondo athlete and a member of the Uzbekistan national team. In 2017, she won a silver medal at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. In 2018 and 2023, she earned bronze medals at the Summer Asian Games. In 2019, she secured a gold medal at the World Military Games. In 2022, she won a gold medal at the World Taekwondo Championship, and in 2023, she claimed a silver medal.
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.
Nadica Božanić is a Serbian taekwondo practitioner. She won the gold medal in the women's middleweight event at the 2022 World Taekwondo Championships held in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Supharada "Anya" Kisskalt is a German taekwondo athlete.
Lorena Brandl is a German taekwondo athlete. She is the 2022 world bronze medallist in the +73 kg weight category.
