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The delayed 2020 Olympics are finally upon us – and for two athletes from Caerphilly County Borough, the moment they have spent years dreaming about has arrived.

Boxer Lauren Price, from Ystrad Mynach and Taekwondo’s Lauren Williams, from Blackwood, will be representing Team GB at the Games this summer.

But who are they? And how did they reach the Olympics?

Lauren Price

A talented footballer, Price played for Fleur de Lys AFC, where she was the only girl in the team. She later joined a girls’ team and went onto play for Cardiff City.

She made her debut for Wales in 2012 aged 16 and won 52 caps for her country.

Growing up, Price did kickboxing as well as football – becoming world kickboxing champion aged 12.

At the age of 16 Price decided to switch to boxing as kickboxing was not an Olympic sport.

She would later go on to concentrate fully on her boxing career, leaving football behind.

Since making that decision, Price has gone onto become a European and World champion, as well as a Commonwealth Games gold-medallist.

Since the age of eight, Price, who is now 27, dreamt of competing at the Olympic Games.

Raised by her grandparents in Ystrad Mynach, Price attended Heolddu Comprehensive in Bargoed. Now, she will fulfil a lifelong dream in Tokyo over the coming weeks.

Speaking to the BBC earlier this year, Price’s grandmother, Linda, said: “You just knew when she was young she was going to do something wonderful. It was in her.

“Lauren said she wanted to be a World Champion kickboxer, play football for Wales and she wants to go to the Olympics. The teacher laughed and I said you should never try to shatter their dreams.”

The middleweight boxer booked her place in Tokyo after her performances at a qualifying competition in Paris, where she came away with the gold medal.

After securing qualification, she tweeted: “Your dreams really can come true. Thank you all for your love and support.”

Lauren Williams

Lauren Williams, from Blackwood, is among the five Taekwondo athletes to have been chosen by the British Olympic Association to compete at the rearranged games this summer.

Williams, 22, will be representing Team GB alongside Jade Jones.

When Jones, from Denbighshire clinched gold at London 2012, a then-13-year-old Williams, who was watching on from her caravan, was inspired to transition from kickboxing to Taekwondo.

Now, Williams will be looking to emulate her hero and win Olympic gold herself.

Aged 14, Williams moved to Manchester and lived in a caravan with her mother so she could be closer to Great Britain’s taekwondo team.

Her mother even gave up her job for 18 months to support her daughter’s taekwondo dream.

But in 2018, Williams repaid the faith by winning her division at the World Grand Slam in China – picking up £52,000 in prize money and offering to pay off her parents’ mortgage.

The sacrifices made by Williams and her family all paid off in June this year, when Williams was selected in the Team GB squad for the rearranged Games.

She heads into the Olympics on the back of a silver medal win at the European Championships in Bulgaria back in April.

She won three games at the competition, before a 13-10 defeat to Croatia’s Matea Jelic in the -67kg final.

Despite her disappointment at the defeat, she said: “I am really proud of myself for getting this far and for what I have achieved.

“Now it is time to go back, rest up and hit the ground running for the one when it really matters.”