Louise Bond-Williams (born 14 May 1982) is a British

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

fencer. She represented Great Britain at the 2004 and 2012 Summer Olympics.

Career

Bond-Williams took up fencing at Chipping Campden School. She quickly showed promise, winning the West Midlands championships for her age class when she was twelve. She was then coached by David Kirby at Shakespeare's Swords, the fencing club at

King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon The Grammar School of King Edward VI at Stratford-upon-Avon (commonly referred to as King Edward VI School or shortened to K.E.S.) is a grammar school and academy in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, traditionally for boys only. Howeve ...

. In 1999, first year where women's sabre was allowed at top-level competitions, she earned a silver medal at the Cadet World Championships in Dijon and posted a last-16 finish at the Senior World Championships in Seoul. The following year she won a silver medal at Budapest and a gold medal at Havana in the Junior World Cup circuit. She went on to take a silver medal at the 2002 Junior World Championships in Antalya and reached the quarter-finals at the senior championships in Lisbon. At a World Cup event in Spain Bond-Williams was noticed by

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

coach Vladimir Nazlymov who offered to train her in the United States and arranged for an athletic scholarship. She accepted the offer as the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

, where she had been studying for a year, did not offer her the facilities to train properly at her level. She fenced for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

from 2002 to 2004, taking All-America honours each season. Ohio State would induct her into their Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012. She made her Olympic début at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the first Games allowing women's sabre, after reaching the final in the European qualifying event. In the first round of the individual event she saw off Germany's Susanne Koenig, but lost afterwards to Russia's

Yelena Nechayeva Yelena Nechayeva (born 14 June 1979) is a Russian former fencer. She competed in the women's sabre events at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Bei ...

. After the Games she resumed her history degree at Ohio State while serving as undergraduate assistant coach. She posted two quarter-finals finishes in the 2004–05 season and finished World No.22, a career best. She climbed her first senior

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

podium with a bronze medal at Orléans in 2007. She missed out however for the 2008 Summer Olympics. She was severely injured in a car crash in late 2008 and sustained several operations which left her out for a full season.

References

External links

Profile
at Team GB
Profile
at the European Fencing Confederation {{DEFAULTSORT:Bond-Williams, Louise 1982 births Living people British female sabre fencers Olympic fencers for Great Britain Fencers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics People from Chipping Campden Ohio State University alumni Sportspeople from Gloucestershire