Rachel Williamson
Rachel Williamson | |||
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| Born | 14 March 1989 Chesterfield, Derbyshire | ||
| Nationality | Britisher | ||
| Citizenship | United Kingdom | ||
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Rachel Helen Williamson known as 'Rach' (born 14 March 1989) is a former Royal Air Force [1] Medic, Invictus Games athlete and the current Team UK Captain for the Invictus Games The The Hague, Netherlands.[2]
Early Life and Education
Rachel Helen Williamson was born on 14 March 1989 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire and has 2 older siblings. Williamson attended Spalding High School and then Stamford College in Lincolnshire, before joining the Royal Air Force. Williamson was also a competitive swimmer representing Northampton Swimming Club multiple times at the National Swimming Championships and ultimately the Commonwealth Games Swimming Trials at Ponds Forge, Sheffield in 2005. Williamson's dream was to representing Team GB at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Military career
Royal Air Force
Williamson joined the Royal Air Force in 2007 at the age of 18 initially training as a Physical Training Instructor (PTI) before re-trading as an RAF Medic. Williamson served for a total of 10.5 years to the rank of Senior Aircraftman (SAC) , which included a 4 month deployment to the Falkland Islands.
In October 2014, Williamson was injured during a Rugby Union training session representing the RAF Rugby Union Women’s team. Injuring her right hand at the time and following treatment at Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court, Williamson's injury worsened and deteriorated and as a result was Medically Discharged from Service in February 2018.
Invictus Games
Williamson initially heard about the 2018 Invictus Games by a friend and was encourage to apply and use sport as a recovery tool to overcome her injury. In 2017, Williamson applied her interest to attend Team UK training camps and learnt how about adaptive sports. In 2018, Williamson was selected as part of Team UK and attended the Invictus Games in Sydney. As a single-arm athlete, Williamson came back home with a total of 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze medals across both Indoor Rowing and Swimming.[3]
In 2020, Williamson reapplied for the 2020 Invictus Games and was successfully selected as the first female captain for Team UK. [4] [5] [1]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic|Covid-19 pandemic the 2020 Invictus Games The Hague[2] have been postponed twice and will now take place 16-22 April 2022.
Williamson also holds multiple Adaptive World and Adaptive British Records in Indoor Rowing.
Other Work
Williamson currently works at the newly built Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Stanford Hall near Loughborough (Previously Headley Court in Surrey).
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Royal Air Force". Royal Air Force.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Invictus Games - Invictus Games The Hague 2020 - Home". Invictus Games.
- ↑ "Invictus success for one-armed swimmer" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ↑ "#7 - First female team captain of team UK looks forward to the Invictus Games". Invictus Games.
- ↑ "RAF veteran from Rutland named Invictus captain". ITV News. October 30, 2019.
External links
This article "Rachel Williamson" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.