Former Winter Olympic gold medallist, Amy Williams MBE has been announced as a torchbearer in the PyeongChang Olympic Torch Relay. Williams, who won gold in the skeleton event at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, will be travelling to South Korea in early November to take part in the relay.
The Torch Relay is an essential part of any Olympic Games, cultivating excitement, anticipation and inspiration in the weeks leading up to the games. The PyeongChang torchbearers are said to be ‘achievers’ – “those who have opened new horizons and continue to go above and beyond” and ‘dreamers’ – “those who pursue their dreams to open new horizons”.
Therefore, it seems fitting that Williams has been chosen as part of this process after the horizons she has opened for Team GB. With her success in Vancouver in 2010, she became Britain’s first solo Winter Olympic champion in 30 years, and Britain’s first solo female Winter Olympic champion for 58 years. She is an example of both a dreamer and an achiever, and a fitting ambassador for Britain in the Pyeongchang relay.
After retiring from the sport of Skeleton in 2012, Williams became the first ever Vice President of British Skeleton. She has forged a successful career in television, appearing as a regular on Ski Sunday and presenting six series’ of The Gadget Show and also draws on her experiences to work as a motivational speaker.
Throughout, Williams’ has managed to remain highly involved in the Olympics, even after her retirement from Skeleton. She was chosen as a torch bearer at the London 2012 games, and after carrying the torch in PyeongChang, she will remain present as a part of the BBC Winter Olympics commentary team.
Williams’ victory in 2010 was a great success for British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association, followed up brilliantly by Lizzy Yarnold’s gold medal in Sochi in 2014. However, Williams’ current involvement in the PyeongChang Winter Games comes at a turbulent time for the British bobsleigh, particularly in terms of the female athletes. Female bobsleigh team, Team McNeill, have had to turn to crowdfunding to raise the £30,000 required to send them to the PyeongChang games after the women’s funding was cut by the Association. This was an unprecedented move that has caused quite a debate within the sport as the three men’s teams remain fully funded. Happily, they have reached their target, and are now more determined than ever to follow in Williams’ winning footsteps, claiming that victory means more now that they are “powered by the people”.
To learn more, head to https://www.gofundme.com/teammcneill
The Pyeongchang Torch Relay
The PyeongChang torch will be lit in Greece on 24th October 2017. It will remain in Greece for 8 days before travelling to South Korea, where it will begin a 101 day, 2,018km procession across the country before reaching the Olympic stadium on the 9th February 2018 for the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony. While the identities of most of the other torchbearers are as yet unknown, the initial torch bearer has been named as Park Ji-Sung, the nation’s most successful football player.
7,500 runners will carry the flag across the 101 days, representing the 75 million people who currently reside in the Korean peninsula. Each torchbearer will bear the torch for 200 metres, travelling through a variety of locations and bringing new, unique areas of South Korea to the global stage. The torch bearers are said to not only carry the Olympic flame, but also to carry ‘message of peace’ on their journey. This message is perhaps more necessary than ever at this games, which take place amidst the growing tensions with North Korea.
To learn more about Amy Williams, click here.
Images from Amy Williams via [https://www.amywilliams.com] and PyeongChang games via [https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/en/torch-relay/photos]