Lauren Williams describes her Tokyo 2020 experience as ‘film-like’, though some might call the dramatic plot too far-fetched.
Williams was one night’s sleep away from boarding her flight to Japan when she was identified as a close contact of a positive Covid case.
It sent her into a tailspin, convinced her Olympic dream had been dashed before check-in.
Recounting those doubtful days still stirs up intense emotions for Williams, now back in the UK with a silver taekwondo medal safely in hand.
Her return has been a whirlwind—a quick hug in a Manchester car park with her proud parents before heading off to the National Lottery’s Team GB Homecoming, where Williams rubbed shoulders with the Olympians she grew up watching.
The Blackwood athlete said: “The guys were leaving on the Monday, and that's around ten days before our fight.
“On the Sunday night, I packed, I was ready to go, I did a vlog, I posted it. I was so excited and then three hours before I was going to bed, I got a call off my boss and he said, ‘You can't go’.
“Immediately it was like, alright, it's over.
“I was on the phone to him for hours and hours crying, panicking, I was sick and my body was just in such a state of shock.”
The 22-year-old’s voice started to break as she recalled how close she came to missing out on her Olympic debut: “You've worked your whole life up until this moment, and then for it to be almost taken away because of something that's out of your control was difficult.”
Williams, who competes in the women’s -67kg category, made it to Japan with five days to go before her fight but the emotional turmoil she had experienced still threatened to derail her title charge.
She admitted: “When I did get there, there was a lot of frustration and a lot of anger and I was injured before I went out as well, so my training was altered anyway.
“I've not trained for a week now, what do I do? I need to play catch up. It was hard not to get caught into that ‘let's overtrain now and overcompensate and then burn myself out’ because that's probably what would have happened.
“Those last five days were incredibly tough, but it's because of my boss, my coach, those two really got behind me and had my back and pushed belief into me and I think that's what got me onto that day.
“A good coach can change a game… a GREAT coach can change a life “💜🙏🏼 Forever thankful. pic.twitter.com/NEg1Pl4FN1
— Lauren Williams (@LaurenW_TKD) July 30, 2021
“My coach was a massive help, and he doesn't get the credit he deserves because, if it wasn't for him and the conversations that I have with him, I'd have fallen apart, not just this year, but a long time ago.”
Williams hopes her candid, behind-the-scenes account will help others appreciate the exacting effort that goes into a medal chase.
She said: “I'd rather [my experience] be shared because it's not just me in that position there's a lot of people that will be in on social media, it's easy to get roped into thinking everyone's life is amazing and that we've had a dream build up and things like this.
“But the reality is just not like that.”
So close 😉 WHAT A DAY ❤️ pic.twitter.com/sRxXHCWpha
— Lauren Williams (@LaurenW_TKD) July 26, 2021
Still, the day of Williams’ competition left her in a dreamlike haze.
She said: “When I turned up at the competition venue, I saw the rings on the board and on a door and I thought, ‘this is it, this is what I've worked my life for’ and I couldn't stop smiling from start to finish.
“I couldn't quite believe what was going on.
“I saw Jade [Jones] in 2012 win the Olympics, I watched her final and I was there in 2016 watching her in the crowd.”
The tables turned in Tokyo.
“Every fight [of mine] she was there,” said Williams.
“I thought, ‘this is absolutely crazy’.
“I'm walking out to my own Olympic final now and Jade's watching me, you couldn't write it.”
Williams seemed on course to reach the top of the podium before falling to the world number one, Croatian Matea Jelić, in the dying moments.
“I had the gold medal, that's what's even more frustrating,” Williams rued. “I had it, and I lost it in that last 10 seconds."
But Williams was committed to enjoying the experience—after all, she nearly didn’t make it on the plane.
She said: “I was just determined to keep smiling and take it all in.
“Obviously, there was no crowd there to shout and scream me on, but they had a little Team GB thing at the end.
“I got to see my family straight after on a FaceTime kind of thing and that was just amazing to see how proud everyone was at home and how they were all celebrating together. It was so good.”
The taekwondo team had taken the decision prior to the pandemic to stay outside of the Olympic Village and with ‘film-like' covid restrictions in place, Williams and her teammates had to wait until returning to the UK to share their success with the rest of Team GB at the homecoming event.
She said: “That's the first time I felt part of the Olympics and the whole Olympic experience was seeing everybody else.
“Seeing how happy everyone was with their medals and having one round my neck. I think that was the moment where we got to celebrate as a team and then I truly realised what I've done.”
The reality is still sinking in for Williams, who keeps hitting rewind on the film—starring her.
“I still don't feel like I've been to Olympic Games,” she admitted.
“So it's only when I see pictures of other athletes from other sports with the same medal that I realised, ‘oh my gosh, it's one of them.’
“It’s a bit of an out-of-body experience. It is only when I see it on pictures, I realise what I've achieved.”