Simon Alexander Williams (born 17 October 1967) is a male British former

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

ter and

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er. He was the gold medallist in the shot put at the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games ( mi, 1990 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Partic ...

. He also represented Great Britain in the discus at the

1991 World Championships in Athletics The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1. 1517 athletes from 167 countries participa ...

and the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. He was a two-time champion in the shot put at the

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the officia ...

(1988 and 1989). He set personal bests of for the shot put and for the discus. He was the 1991 shot put champion at the

NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship is an annual collegiate outdoor track and field competition for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Athlete's individual performances earn points for ...

, competing for

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

Career

Born in

Edmonton, London Edmonton is a town in north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and the southern part as Upper Edmonto ...

,Simon Williams
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-12-01. he began competing in throwing events as a teenager as a young member of

Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club is an athletics club based in North London. The club has tracks in two locations; Lee Valley Athletics Centre and New River Stadium. History Enfield and Haringey AC was formed in 1999 with the merger of Borough ...

.Simon Williams
Power of 10. Retrieved on 2014-12-01. In 1984 he was the champion in the

in the under-17s AAA section (outdoors and indoors) and the intermediate category champion at the

English Schools Championships English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. He improved the following year to take the

title at the AAA Outdoor Junior Championships, the shot put at the under-19s English Schools competition. He took a AAA indoor title in the shot put in 1986 and also retained his schools title. Internationally, he competed in the discus at the

1985 European Athletics Junior Championships The 1985 European Athletics Junior Championships was the eighth edition of the biennial athletics competition for European athletes aged under twenty. It was held in Cottbus Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a un ...

, being eliminated in the qualifying round.Simon Williams
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-12-01. He also competed in the shot put at the inaugural

1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was the inaugural 1986 edition of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Athens, Greece on 16–20 July. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an un ...

, placing twelfth overall.Simon Williams
IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-12-01. Williams won his first senior national title in the shot put at the 1988

. He repeated that feat in 1989, defeating runner-up Matt Simson by nearly a metre.AAA Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-12-01. He began studying at

that year, competing in

college athletics College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des ...

for their

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

team. In 1990 he was beaten to the AAA shot put title by Paul Edwards, but also made his first discus throw podium there by coming runner-up to Abi Ekoku. He was

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

's selection for the shot put at the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. Despite having lost in national competition, he topped the rankings at the games to win the shot put gold medal with a throw of (Edwards was third). At the 1991

, Williams was an unexpected victor in the shot put, taking the title for Louisiana with his throw of – the shortest winning mark since 1959.Kayfes, David (1991-06-02)
One Shot Putter Returns Home While Another Arrives
''Eugene Register-Guard''. Retrieved on 2014-12-01. Williams had set a lifetime best of in the shot put to win the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

Championships earlier that year. Turning to the discus, he was the top national thrower at the AAA Championships that year, although second to Austria's Werner Reiterer. This brought him his senior debut for Great Britain at the

. He through a personal best of at the event in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, but this was not enough to progress to the final. He was beaten nationally at the 1992 AAA Championships, finishing behind Edwards in the shot and behind Ekoku in the discus. Still, his lifetime best discus throw of in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

that April gained him a place on the British team for the

Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. He was well down on his best there, however, managing only in the qualifying round. After his Olympic performance, he never again reached the same standard. He did not compete in the 1993 season and did not rank nationally at the AAA Championships in 1994 either. He focused mainly on discus after this point: he was third at the 1995 AAA Championships and runner-up to Robert Weir at the 1996 event, which was his final podium finish at the competition.

Personal bests

Shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

– (1991) *

Discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

– (1992)

National titles

: 1988, 1989

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Simon Living people 1967 births British male shot putters English male shot putters British male discus throwers English male discus throwers Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics LSU Tigers track and field athletes Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games