Laurie Williams

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.

Early life and education Williams was born on 4 February 1992 at Wythenshawe Hospital and grew up in Altrincham. At the age of eighteen months, an undiagnosed viral infection resulted in her developing motor neuropathy in her trunk and legs.

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.

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.

Sporting career

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, and started playing competitively in 2008. Her team mates called her "whippet" on account of her speed on the basketball court.

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, winning gold. She then played with the senior team that defeated France to take bronze in the 2015 European Championship. 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.

Domestically, Williams presently plays as a member of the Loughborough Lightning women's wheelchair basketball team.

Achievements 2009: Bronze at the European Championships (Stoke Mandeville, UK) 2016: Fourth at 2016 Paralympics (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) 2017: Bronze at the European Championships (Tenerife, Spain) 2018: Silver at the World Wheelchair Basketball Championship (Hamburg, Germany) 2021: Seventh at 2020 Paralympics (Tokyo, Japan) 2024: Fifth at 2024 Paralympics (Paris, France)

Personal life Williams is openly lesbian. Williams is engaged to fellow wheelchair basketball player Robyn Love. They have a child together. She holds dual citizenship as an Irish national having inherited this from her mother's Irish citizenship.