Andrew Williams
Sport: Athletics - F32 shot
Born: 09/01/81
Lives: Mold, North Wales
Andrew made his Paralympic debut in Athens in 2004, where he just missed out on the medals - finishing 4th in F32 shot. He has since competed at the 2005 European Athletics Championships and 2006 Athletics World Championships - finishing 4th in the F32 shot at both.
Interview Transcript
Q Your name?
A Andrew Williams.
Q And your sport?
A Athletics- shot put.
Q How did you get into your sport?
A I started out in the local disabled sports club, just doing basic things like darts, boules, table tennis - you name it, I did it and that was back in 1993. But in the year 1994 I was spotted by, he is now my coach, Anthony Hughes from Cardiff and he came down to North Wales - Deeside and literally spotted me and knew I had the talent to do it. Basically I got on well really.
Q What do you enjoy most about your sport?
A Well it keeps me fit, and helps me stay fit for my everyday life - doing stuff around the house and such, and it does get me out the house quite a lot.
Q What does a typical day in your sport involve?
A A typical day would be training probably 6 days a week, round about 6 days a week but depending upon the weather conditions or whatever. I practice one or two hours a day either at home or in the Deeside which is in North Wales Athletics Centre and then every few weeks I'm in Cardiff with my technical coach.
Q How do you relax when not training or competing?
A I would either be playing on my computer, watching the TV or my DVD's and then probably on occasions doing a little bit of model railway work because I am a member of a model railway club in Chester. I go down there on Monday nights and on occasions I go down to a steam railway in Llangollen, which is up in North Wales - I help down there on occasions to get a bit of fresh air.
Q What do you hope to achieve in your sport in future?
A Obviously at the moment that is just to medal in Beijing next year and 2012 in London, obviously because a lot of my relatives are very, very keen and very, very interested in what I do and it gives them a chance to see what I do behind closed doors, as they don't very often see what I do. They do see me doing training but they don't see me doing competitions.
Q What advice would you give to somebody wanting to take up your sport?
A The advice that I can give them to show people that it's not the disability that counts, it's your ability that counts.
