Will Bayley

Last updated

Will Bayley
MBE
Will Bayley in 2023.png
Bayley at the Rio Paralympics in 2023
Personal information
Full nameWilliam John Bayley
NationalityFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Flag of England.svg  England
Born (1988-01-17) 17 January 1988 (age 36)
Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England
Medal record
Men's para table tennis
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Paralympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2016 Rio Individual – Class 7
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2012 London Individual – Class 7
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2020 Tokyo Individual – Class 7
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2020 Tokyo Team – Class 6-7

William John Bayley MBE (born 17 January 1988) is a British professional Paralympic table tennis player, ranked world number 1. He is the 2016 Summer Paralympics Games gold medallist and the 2014 World Champion.

Contents

From September 2019 Bayley participated in the seventeenth series of Strictly Come Dancing , paired with professional dancer Janette Manrara.

Personal life

Bayley was born on 17 January 1988 in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. [1] He was born with arthrogryposis which affects all four of his limbs. [2]

At the age of seven he was diagnosed with cancer. During his recovery he began playing table tennis after his grandmother bought him his first table. [1] [3] [4]

Career

At the age of 12 he joined the Byng Hall Table Tennis Club in Tunbridge Wells, and went on to represent Kent's able bodied men's team. [4] From the age of 17 he has lived and trained full-time at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. [5]

He represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China, where he was knocked out of the table tennis C7 singles in the preliminary round after defeats against Germany's Jochen Wollmert and Ukraine's Mykhaylo Popov and a single victory against Shumel Shur of Israel. [6] He also competed in the C6-8 team event along with Paul Karabardak and David Wetherill; they were eliminated at the quarterfinal stage. [4] In 2009, he won gold medals at the Czech and German opens, in 2010 he took golds in Lignano and Brazil. [2]

Bayley won a gold medal in the singles at the 2011 European Championships in Split, Croatia. He also won a silver medal in the men's Team event class 7, playing alongside Karabardak. At the end of 2011 he was voted the European Players' Player of the Year and in January 2012 he achieved the world number one ranking. [4]

Bayley won a silver medal in the London 2012 Summer Paralympics after losing to Germany's Jochen Wollmert in the class 7 final. [7]

At the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympics, Bayley won his first Paralympic gold medal after beating home-favourite Brazilian Israel Pereira Stroh. He received a yellow card for jumping up onto the table in celebration. [8]

Bayley again won silver at the delayed Tokyo 2020 games, his third successive Paralympic medal. [9] He went on to win silver in the team event, where he had a rematch in the final against Yan Shuo, who he lost his olympic title to a week earlier.[ citation needed ]

Bayley was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to table tennis. [10]

Strictly Come Dancing

From September 2019 Bayley participated in the seventeenth series of Strictly Come Dancing , paired with professional dancer Janette Manrara. [11]

The couple's Contemporary dance, to Lukas Graham's song "7 Years", was dedicated to the patients and staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where Bayley had been treated for cancer, aged seven. Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph said the pair "... didn't leave a dry eye in the house after their beautiful, barefoot contemporary dance." [12]

Due to a knee injury, sustained from a studio rehearsal, Bayley was unable to perform in week 6 (Halloween Week). Under the rules of the competition, he was given a "bye" to the following week, however, it was later confirmed that he had withdrawn from the competition.[ citation needed ] He said, "I'm gutted my Strictly journey has had to come to an end. I've loved being part of the show." [13]

^A Alfonso Ribeiro filled in for Tonioli

Related Research Articles

<i>Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two</i> Companion weeknight show on BBC Two

Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two is a British television programme, the companion show to the popular BBC One programme Strictly Come Dancing. First aired on 25 October 2004, it is broadcast from Monday to Friday during the run of the main show on BBC Two at 6:30 pm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Smith (gymnast)</span> British artistic gymnast

Louis Antoine Smith MBE is a retired British artistic gymnast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalia Partyka</span> Polish para table tennis player

Natalia Dorota Partyka is a Polish para table tennis player. Born without a right hand and forearm, she participates in competitions for able-bodied athletes as well as in competitions for athletes with disabilities. Partyka reached the last 32 of the London 2012 Olympic women's table tennis.

Eleanor May Simmonds, OBE is a British former Paralympian swimmer who competed in S6 events. She came to national attention when she competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning two gold medals for Great Britain. She was the youngest member of the team, at the age of 13.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jody Cundy</span> English cyclist and swimmer

Jody Alan Cundy, is an English cyclist and former swimmer. He has represented Great Britain at seven Summer Paralympics winning eight Gold, one Silver and three Bronze medals across swimming and cycling events. He has also competed in multiple World Championships, winning 23 world titles, the most recent coming at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in August 2023.

Janette Manrara Škorjanec is a Cuban-American television presenter, choreographer and professional dancer from Miami, Florida, US. Born to her Cuban parents Luis and Maritza, Janette is the oldest of three. Originally a singer, learning from her Cuban family, she formally studied dance from the age of 19. Manrara is best known for her appearances on the US series So You Think You Can Dance and British dance reality television competition, Strictly Come Dancing. She is married to Slovenian dancer and co-star Aljaž Škorjanec. In June 2021, it was announced that Manrara would co host Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two with Rylan Clark and later Fleur East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonnie Peacock</span> British athlete

Jonathan Peacock MBE is an English sprint runner. An amputee, Peacock won gold at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics, representing Great Britain in the T44 men's 100 metres event. He won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The country finished third in the medals table, behind China and Russia, winning 120 medals in total; 34 gold, 43 silver and 43 bronze. Multiple medallists included cyclist Sarah Storey and wheelchair athlete David Weir, who won four gold medals each, and swimmer Stephanie Millward who won a total of five medals. Storey also became the British athlete with the most overall medals, 22, and equal-most gold medals, 11, in Paralympic Games history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jochen Wollmert</span> German Paralympic table tennis player

Jochen Wollmert is a German Paralympic table tennis player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Cockroft</span> British wheelchair racer

Hannah Lucy Cockroft is a British wheelchair racer specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification. She holds the world records for the 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres and 1500 metres in her classification and the Paralympic records at 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres and 800 metres. Competing for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she won two gold medals. She won three further gold medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Blake (athlete)</span> British Paralympic athlete

Paul John Blake is a British athlete who competes in T36 middle-distance events. Blake competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics where he won a silver and bronze medal in the 400m T36 and 800m T36 respectively. He followed this up with two gold medals at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships, both in his favoured 800m event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross Wilson (table tennis)</span> British table tennis player

Ross Wilson is a British paralympic table tennis player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Reid (tennis)</span> British wheelchair tennis player

Gordon James Reid is a British professional wheelchair tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles and world No. 1 in doubles. He is a Paralympic gold, silver, and bronze medalist, two-time Grand Slam singles champion, and twenty-three time Grand Slam doubles champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Davies (table tennis)</span> British Paralympic table tennis player

Robert Rhys Davies is a British Paralympic table tennis player. Davies, who has played table tennis competitively since 2007, was selected for the 2012 Paralympic Games. After winning the 2013 European Championship title in both singles and team events, he was named world number 1 in the class-1 category.

Aljaž Škorjanec is a Slovenian dancer and choreographer who has appeared on the BBC series Strictly Come Dancing as a professional dancer. In March 2022, he announced, via his Instagram account, that he was leaving the show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed, under the name Great Britain, at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places for which the team qualified were for six athletes in sailing events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauren Steadman</span> British Paralympic athlete

Lauren Steadman is a British Paralympic athlete who has competed in four Summer Paralympics, in both swimming and the paratriathlon. She competed at both the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London as a swimmer, before switching to the paratriathlon for the 2016 Games in Rio where she won a silver medal in the Women's PT4. She won the gold medal in the Women's PTS5 at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron McKibbin</span> British table tennis player

Aaron McKibbin is an English Paralympic table tennis player. McKibben represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and won a bronze medal in the Men's team – Class 6–8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egypt at the 2016 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Egypt competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. The country sent a delegation of 44 sportspeople. The team included 16-year-old Ayattalah Ayman, the youngest member of the delegation and the first woman to represent Egypt in swimming. It also included 41-year-old Ibrahim Al Husseini Hamadtou, the only table tennis player to compete while holding the paddle in his mouth.

Neil Robinson is a retired para table tennis player from the United Kingdom. He participated in seven consecutive Paralympic Games and won team titles with Scott Robertson and James Rawson in both world and European championships.

References

  1. 1 2 "Will Bayley - Paralympics GB". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 Chowdhury, Saj (21 August 2012). "Paralympics 2012: Bayley targets number one spot". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  3. "Will Bayley Q&A". Channel 4. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Will Bayley". British Paralympic Association. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  5. "Paralympian Will Bayley hoping to make Tunbridge Wells proud at London 2012". Kent and Sussex Courier. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  6. "Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games Table Tennis Men's Singles 7". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  7. "London 2012 Paralympics: Will Bayley wins table tennis silver". BBC Sport. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  8. "London 2012 Paralympics: Will Bayley wins table tennis silver". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 12 September 2016. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  9. "Table tennis results and schedule, 29th August". olympics.com. 29 August 2021. Archived from the original on 29 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  10. "No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N15.
  11. "BBC One - Strictly Come Dancing - Will Bayley MBE". BBC.
  12. Hogan, Michael (19 October 2019). "Strictly Come Dancing 2019, week 5 live: Saffron Barker foxtrots to top of the scoreboard, jiving David James rock bottom" via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  13. "Will Bayley leaves Strictly after leg injury". 30 October 2019 via www.bbc.co.uk.