Shaun Phillip Williams (born December 5, 1976, in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

) is a retired amateur South African freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's featherweight category. Williams has claimed three medals (two silver and one bronze) at the

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (AN ...

, picked up a bronze in the 55-kg division at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, and later represented his nation

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 ...

, as a lone wrestler, at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Williams also trained for the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

's freestyle wrestling team, under his coach Pat Whidcomb, while studying and attending college in the United States. Williams emerged himself into the international spotlight at the

Manchester, United Kingdom Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, where he took home the bronze medal in the men's featherweight division (55 kg). The following year, Williams continued to produce another sporting success by bringing home the African championship title in freestyle wrestling, and by ending up eleventh in the same class at the

2003 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 2003 World Wrestling Championships. The Freestyle Competition was held in New York City, United States, while the Greco-Roman Competition was held in Créteil, France. Medal table Team ranking Medal su ...

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, which earned him a ticket to compete for the South African Olympic team. At the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Williams qualified as a lone wrestler for the South African squad in the men's featherweight class (55 kg), by receiving a berth and rounding out the top eleven spot from the World Championships. He lost his opening bout against Bulgaria's

Radoslav Velikov Radoslav Marinov Velikov ( bg, Радослав Маринов Великов; born 2 September 1983 in Kutsina, Veliko Tarnovo Province) is a Bulgarian freestyle wrestler. He has been engaged in wrestling since 1997 and he curren ...

because of the ten-point superiority limit, and could not gain enough points to outclass China's Li Zhengyu in a sudden-death match 4–5, leaving Williams on the bottom of the prelim pool and finishing seventeenth overall in the final standings. After his retirement from the sport in late 2007, Williams worked as the wrestling head coach for

Hermiston High School Hermiston High School (HHS) is a four-year, public high school in Hermiston, Oregon, United States. Building The main building is a seventy-classroom structure with computer laboratories, two large auditoriums, a library and physical education s ...

Hermiston, Oregon Hermiston () is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Its population of 19,696 makes it the largest city in Eastern Oregon. Hermiston is the largest, and fastest-growing, city in the Hermiston-Pendleton Micropolitan Statistical Area ...

. In late 2015, Williams moved to Spokane, Washington, and began work for Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley, Washington, where he started a new role as a resource education teacher, in addition to his role serving as the school’s current wrestling head coach.

References

External links

Profile – International Wrestling Database
1976 births Living people South African male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for South Africa Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for South Africa Wrestlers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Pretoria Oregon Ducks wrestlers University of Oregon alumni Commonwealth Games medallists in wrestling People from Hermiston, Oregon African Games silver medalists for South Africa African Games bronze medalists for South Africa African Games medalists in wrestling Competitors at the 1995 All-Africa Games Competitors at the 1999 All-Africa Games Competitors at the 2003 All-Africa Games 20th-century South African people 21st-century South African people Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games {{SouthAfrica-wrestling-bio-stub

See also

References

External links