Lauren Williams (taekwondo)

Lauren Williams (born 25 February 1999) is a Welsh taekwondo athlete who represents Great Britain.

Career
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. 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.

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. As a senior, she competes in the 67 kg weight class and became European Champion in 2016 and 2018. Additionally, she has received one European silver medal (in 2021) and one bronze (in 2022).

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.

2020 Olympic Games
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 when Jelić suddenly turned the match around, stating to have had a 'mental block' during the end of the last round.

2021-2024 Season
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.

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.

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.