Rhys Williams (born February 27, 1984), is a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 professional athlete, specializing in the 400 m hurdles.

Early life

Williams was born in Bridgend

Bridgend

Bridgend is a town in the Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of the capital, Cardiff. The river crossed by the original bridge, which gave the town its name, is the River Ogmore but the River Ewenny also passes to the south of the town...

, the son of former Welsh international rugby union player J.J. Williams

J.J. Williams

John James Williams , known universally as J.J. Williams, is a former Welsh rugby union player who gained thirty caps for Wales as a winger....

. Rhys studied at Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari from September 1995 until June 2002. He is currently studying for a master's degree at the University of Glamorgan

University of Glamorgan

The University of Glamorgan is a university based in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales with campuses in Treforest, Glyntaff, Merthyr Tydfil, Tyn y Wern and Cardiff...

.

Athletics career

Williams won the 400m hurdles at the 2005 European U23 Championships, was European Junior Champion in 2003, and won the European Youth Olympics in 2001. He was also the Welsh U15 backstroke

Backstroke

The backstroke, also sometimes called the back crawl, is one of the four swimming styles regulated by FINA, and the only regulated style swum on the back. This has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimmers not being able to see where they are going. It is also the only...

 swimming champion and was a member of the Bridgend and District DC.Thomas winning rugby side at the age of 11.

On August 10, 2006, Williams won the bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

 at the European Championships in Athletics

European Championships in Athletics

The European Athletics Championships is an event organized by the European Athletic Association. It is organised every four years, the same year as the Commonwealth Games and between the Summer Olympic Games cycle. After the 2010 Championships in Barcelona, the European Championships will take...

 in Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

 in a time of 49.12 seconds, thus just slightly missing his personal best (49.09, set at the 2006 Commonwealth Games

2006 Commonwealth Games

The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...

 in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, where he finished fourth). He also ran 48.3 over the 400 m (2002).

On August 13, 2006 at that same event, he won a silver medal in the 4x400 m relay as the second sprinter, along with Robert Tobin

Robert Tobin

Robert "Rob" John Tobin is an English sprinter. He currently has a PB in the 400 m of 45.01 seconds.-Personal life:...

, Graham Hedman

Graham Hedman

Graham Hedman is a British sprinter. At the 2006 European Championships in Athletics in Gothenburg, he won the silver medal in the 4x400 m relay along with Robert Tobin, Rhys Williams and Timothy Benjamin, in a time of 3:01.63.-Personal bests:100 m 10.64 sec 200 m 21.02 400 m 45.84 400 L 45.0...

 and Timothy Benjamin

Timothy Benjamin

Timothy David Benjamin is a former professional athlete from Wales. He specialised in the 400 metres, and in his teens was coached by Jock Anderson, in the same training group as Christian Malcolm...

, in a time of 3:01.63.

On July 31, 2010, he achieved the Silver Medal in the 400 m hurdles at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, with fellow Welshman Dai Greene winning Gold.

Injuries

On June 17, 2008 it was announced that he would miss the 2008 Olympics due to a stress fracture to his right foot. He suffered the injury while taking part in the Welsh Championships two days earlier, which was the first time he had competed since suffering a similar injury a year earlier.

Personal bests

Distance	Time	Venue	Date
400m	47.07s	Loughborough Loughborough Loughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University...	23 May 10
400mH	48.96s	Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...	31 Jul 10