Sharni Maree Williams (born 2 March 1988) is a female Australian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. She has played in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

position for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the Brumbies, and from 2008 to 2012 for the

Canberra Royals The Canberra Royals Rugby Football Club is an Australian rugby union club, based in Canberra. Club history Canberra Royals has a proud tradition and identifies closely with the Royals Foundation Team of 1949. Our current Club Patron is life me ...

. She won a gold medal at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in Rio.

Biography

Williams made her international debut when winning her first Australia cap, against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on 14 October 2008 at Viking Park in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. Some days before, she collected three tries in an unofficial test match won 95-0 by the Wallaroos against with the Australian President’s XV. During the

2010 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in England. The International Rugby Board Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limite ...

in England, Williams scored one try against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and two in Australia's 62-0 victory over

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. She was awarded ACT Rugby Rookie of the Year 2008 and Australian Women's Player of the Year 2010. Williams made the transition to rugby sevens in 2011, earning a spot in the Australian women’s sevens team where she played every leg of the Women's Sevens World Series from its inception in November 2012. Injury ruled her out of the Sao Paulo Sevens in February 2016, however she returned in time to be named in the final round of the 2015-16 season in Clermont that saw her side win the country's first-ever World Series. Williams was co-captain of Australia's team at the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

, defeating

in the final to win the inaugural Olympic gold medal in the sport. On Australia Day 2017, Williams, along with her Rio team mates, was awarded an Order of Australia Medal. Williams was named in the Australia squad for the

Rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics Rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place from 26 July to 31 July 2021 at the Tokyo Stadium. 24 teams (12 each for men and women) competed in the tournament. The dates were modified due to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 ga ...

. The team came second in the pool round but then lost to Fiji 14-12 in the quarterfinals. Williams won a gold medal with the Australian sevens team at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. She was a member of the Australian team that won the 2022 Sevens Rugby World Cup held in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa in September 2022. She was also selected in the Wallaroos team for the delayed 2022 Rugby World Cup in

Personal life

Aside from her rugby union career, Williams is a qualified mechanic. She is openly lesbian.

Achievements and honours

* 2017,

Canada Sevens The Canada Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held every March. It is one of the ten stops on the World Rugby Sevens Series, and is played the weekend after the USA Sevens in Las Vegas. Canada secured a four-year deal to host to event ...

Langford dream team

References

External links

*
Wallaroos Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Sharni 1988 births Living people Australian female rugby union players Australia women's international rugby union players Australian female rugby sevens players People from the Riverina Rugby union centres Rugby union flankers Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players of Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Australia international rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Australian LGBT sportspeople Rugby union players from New South Wales Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games