Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | United Kingdom Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Manchester, England | 4 February 1992|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 155 cm (5 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Wheelchair basketball | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disability class | 2.5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Women's team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | University of Alabama | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Loughborough Lightning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Laurie Anne Williams (born 4 February 1992) is a 2.5 point British-Irish wheelchair basketball player who participated at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo and the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris representing Great Britain.
Williams was born on 4 February 1992 at Wythenshawe Hospital and grew up in Altrincham. [1] At the age of eighteen months, an undiagnosed viral infection resulted in her developing motor neuropathy in her trunk and legs. [1]
Williams starred as Gabby alongside Ade Adepitan in the 2007 CBBC series, Desperados about a children's wheelchair basketball team. [2]
She attended Altrincham Grammar School for Girls and later completed further education at Loreto College in Manchester. Following the completion of her A-Levels, Williams enrolled at Loughborough University and proceeded to graduate with a first class honours Bachelor of Science degree in social psychology. [3]
Immediately following her studies at Loughborough, Williams pursued postgraduate education at the University of Alabama, graduating with a Master of Science degree in Human Development Studies. [4]
When she was 13, Williams began wheelchair athletics and wheelchair racing. While attending the Greater Manchester Youth Games in 2005, she was asked to try out for wheelchair basketball. She found that she loved the physicality of the game and the social aspects of being part of a team, [5] [6] and started playing competitively in 2008. Her team mates called her "whippet" on account of her speed on the basketball court. [1] She played for the Nottingham Coyotes in the National League and is classified as a 2.5 point player. [6]
In 2009 Williams made her debut with Team Great Britain at the 2009 BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, and in 2010 was part of the team that came sixth at the World Championships in Birmingham – Britain's best ever performance. She was then part of the team that won silver at the U22 European Championships in Italy later that year. She won bronze at the European Championships in Nazareth in 2011 and Frankfurt in 2013, and at the U25 World Championship in St. Catharines, Canada in 2011. She made her Paralympic debut in front of a home crowd at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. [1]
Whilst studying at University of Alabama, Williams was part of the university wheelchair basketball team, and participated in their successfully winning their fourth national championship in seven years in 2015, with a 58–52 win over the University of Illinois. [7]
In 2015 she was co-captain (with Amy Conroy) of the U25 team at the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing, [8] winning gold. [9] She then played with the senior team that defeated France to take bronze in the 2015 European Championship. [10] In May 2016, she was named as part of the team for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. [11] The British team produced its best ever performance at the Paralympics, making it all the way to the semi-finals, but lost to the semi-final to the United States, and then the bronze medal match to the Netherlands. [12]
Domestically, Williams presently plays as a member of the Loughborough Lightning women's wheelchair basketball team. [13]
Williams is engaged to fellow wheelchair basketball player Robyn Love. [16] They have a child together. [17] She holds dual citizenship as an Irish national having inherited this from her mother's Irish citizenship.
Cobi Crispin is a 4 point wheelchair basketball forward from Western Australia. She began playing wheelchair basketball in 2003 when she was 17 years old. The Victorian Institute of Sport and Direct Athlete Support (DAS) program have provided assistance to enable her to play. She played club basketball in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) for the Victorian Dandenong Rangers in 2012 after having previously played for the Western Stars. In 2015 she began playing for the Minecraft Comets. She played for the University of Alabama in the United States in 2013–15.
Annika Zeyen-Giles is a former 1.5-point wheelchair basketball player, who has played for ASV Bonn, RSV Lahn-Dill and BG Baskets Hamburg in the German wheelchair basketball league, and for the University of Alabama in the United States. She has represented her country a total of 382 times in which she won six European titles, was the runner-up at 2010 and 2014 World Championships, won silver medals at the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing and 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, and won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, for which President Joachim Gauck awarded the team Germany's highest sporting honour, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt . Following the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Zeyen retired from wheelchair basketball to pursue alternative sporting challenges as an individual athlete.
Maude Jacques was a Canadian 2.5 point Paralympic wheelchair basketball player who won a gold medal at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto.
Laura Fürst is a German 2.0 point national wheelchair basketball player who plays in the wheelchair basketball league for RBB Munich, and for the German national team, with which she won silver at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto.
Sophie Carrigill is a 1.0 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto and the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Amy Conroy is a 4.0 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, the 2016 Summer Paralympics in a Rio de Janeiro, co captained the team to win Gold in the under 25 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Beijing and won a silver medal at the 2018 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Hamburg.
Joy Haizelden is a 2.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who was the youngest player to represent Great Britain at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto. She also went to Paris to compete at the 2024 Paralympics.
Charlotte Moore is a wheelchair racer who has won four Virgin London wheelchair mini-marathons, a wheelchair tennis player and a 1.0 point wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto and the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg.
Jordanna Bartlett is a 3.0 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing.
Leah Evans is a 2.0 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing.
Katie Morrow is a 4.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who was the youngest player selected for Team GB wheelchair basketball team at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Helen Freeman is a 4.0 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain in five European championships, and at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London and the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Rosalie Lalonde is a Canadian 3.0 point wheelchair basketball player who won a silver medal at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto. In 2016, she was selected as part of the team for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro
Clare Griffiths née Strange is a 1.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games.
Judith Hamer is a 4.0 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games. She won a Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for bravery and trekked across the Andes Mountains in Ecuador as part of a reality television show, Beyond Boundaries.
Robyn Love is a 3.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2016 Paralympic Games and 2024 Paralympic Games.
Madeleine Thompson is a 4 point British wheelchair basketball player. In 2008, at the age of thirteen, she became the youngest ever player to represent Great Britain in wheelchair basketball. She was part of the British team at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto, and the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg.
Barbara Gross is a 4.5 point wheelchair basketball player, who played for the German national team at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, winning silver. President Joachim Gauck awarded the team Germany's highest sporting honour, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt.
Rose Marie Hollermann is an American 3.5 point wheelchair basketball player and member of the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team. She who won gold at the 2011, and 2019 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, the 2011, 2015 and 2023 Parapan American Games, and the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She also won bronze at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and the 2022 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships.
Lucy Robinson is a British 4.5-point wheelchair basketball player from Leicester. She played for the Great Britain women's national wheelchair basketball team in the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo and in the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris.