Lauren Williams wins Olympic silver medal

Blackwood’s Lauren Williams has won a silver medal for Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 22-year-old taekwondo star reached the final of the women’s -67kg women’s final, but fell short to Croatia’s Matea Jelic, narrowly losing 25-22.

The competition was held in Chiba, near Tokyo on Monday, July 26.

En route to the final, Williams beat Tonga’s Malia Paseka 11-0 in the last 16, before edging Hedaya Malak, of Egypt, 13-12 in the quarter-finals.

Williams then secured her place in the final after a 24-18 semi-final victory over Cote d’Ivoire’s Ruth Gbagbi.

The final was a repeat of April’s European Championships final, where Williams was narrowly beaten 13-10 by Jelic.

Speaking after the final, Williams told the BBC: “It’s not enough, I had her, ten seconds, I just let it go. I made a mistake and let it go, it’s on me.

“I went out there to win and tried my best but it didn’t happen on the day. I am very happy with how I performed but it’s a shame she got it.

“An Olympic silver medal is not bad, is it?”

Watching Williams in the final was two-time Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones, from Denbighshire.

Jones, who is also in the Team GB squad in Tokyo, won gold at London 2012 – inspiring a then-13-year-old Williams to make the switch from kickboxing to Taekwondo.

ged 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.

Speaking on the BBC following the final, two-time Taekwondo Olympic medallist Lutalo Muhammad said: “Lauren will come again and I was glad to see her with that wry smile at the end – she knows she gave it everything and I hope she knows what she has done today is very special – an Olympic silver medal at just 22 years of age.”