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Bianca Williams

For the American anthropologist, see Bianca Williams (anthropologist).

Bianca Williams OLY[citation needed] (born 18 December 1993) is a British athlete.[1] She won the silver medal in the women's 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Bianca Williams
OLY
Bianca Williams in 2018
Personal information
Born (1993-12-18) 18 December 1993 (age 30)
Enfield, London, United Kingdom
EducationUniversity of East London
Height1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight57 kg (126 lb)
Sport
ClubEnfield & Haringey AC[1]
Coached byLloyd Cowan
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2024 Paris 4×100 m relay
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Budapest 4×100 m relay
World Relays
Silver medal – second place 2014 Nassau 4×200 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Nassau 4×100 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Nassau 4×100 m relay
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2018 Berlin 4×100 m relay
Silver medal – second place 2016 Amsterdam 4×100 m relay
European Games
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Kraków-Małopolska 200 m
Representing Europe Europe
Continental Cup
Silver medal – second place 2018 Ostrava 4×100 m relay
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham 4×100 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Glasgow 200 m
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Glasgow 4×100 m relay

She competed for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she won bronze medals in the 200 m,[2] and in the 4 × 100 m relay.[3] She has also won two medals as part of the British team at the IAAF World Relays; with silver in the 4 × 200 m in 2014,[4] and bronze in the 4 × 100 m in 2015. She ranks fifth on the UK all-time list at 200m with her best of 22.45 secs.

In November 2023, Williams was named in the BBC's 100 Women list, which features 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.[5]

Personal life

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Williams lives in Maida Vale and in addition to her track career, works as a part-time tennis coach.[6][7] She is in a relationship with the Portuguese sprinter Ricardo dos Santos with whom she has a son, born in 2020.[8]

2020 police incident

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On 4 July 2020, Williams and dos Santos accused the Metropolitan Police of racial profiling after having their car stopped and searched whilst returning from a training session. Williams uploaded a video of them both being detained and searched. After the incident occurred, Linford Christie shared Williams' video of the incident on Twitter, with the comment "Racist police aren't just in America #BLM".[9] Williams subsequently spoke with The Times and accused the police of racial profiling and acting violently towards her family. Keir Starmer said on LBC that senior Met officers should feel “very uncomfortable” about the force's handling of the case.[8][10][11]

The Met released a statement, saying the vehicle Williams was travelling in had been on the wrong side of the road, and that the driver had sped off when asked to stop.[12] They also said the Directorate of Professional Standards had reviewed footage from social media and officers' bodycams, and were satisfied there was no concern around the officers' conduct involved in the incident.[12] On 7 July 2020, the Met voluntarily referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, for independent investigation into the incident.[13] Additionally, they stated that they were now treating the matter as a 'public complaint'.[13]

On 1 July 2021, it was announced that three of the six officers involved were under investigation for gross misconduct.[14] In January 2023, it was reported that five officers were to face a gross misconduct hearing, and that an investigator at the IOPC resigned in November 2020, complaining that her investigation of the incident had been "watered down".[15] The disciplinary hearing against the five officers, who deny the allegations, began on 18 September 2023.[16] Two of the five officers were found guilty of gross misconduct in that they had lied about smelling cannabis. None of the officers were found guilty of misconduct in relation to the stopping of the vehicle, or the handcuffing of the couple.[17] The two officers found guilty of gross misconduct were dismissed.[18] The police misconduct panel who considered the 2020 incident deemed Williams to be 'a credible and thoughtful witness' who had clearly been deeply affected by the incident.[19] After the officers were sacked, a crowdfunding page was set up for the officers' benefit. As at 30 October 2023, more than £140,000 had been raised for them. Williams said she was "shocked with the amount of money that’s been raised".[20]

On 4 October 2024, the Police Appeals Tribunal overturned the gross misconduct outcome and reinstated the jobs of the two officers as well as ordering they receive back pay.[21][22]

Driving ban

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On 4 December 2023, Magistrates imposed on Williams a six-month driving ban, 18 points on her driving licence and fines, surcharges and costs totalling £471. Williams pleaded guilty to failing on three separate occasions to advise the police, in writing, who it was that had been driving her Tesla Model 3 car. The vehicle was alleged to have been involved in an incident earlier in the year. The athlete told the court that she wasn't the driver at the time of the alleged incident and that imposing a ban may jeopardise her chances of qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games. Williams told the Court she would have difficulty attending her training sessions if she had to rely on public transport. Following her guilty-plea, Williams' suspended driving licence has an accumulated total of 29 penalty points.[6][7]

Personal bests

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Event Time Venue Date
100 m 11.17 Geneva, Switzerland 14 June 2014
150 m 17.06 Newham, London 29 May 2017
200 m 22.45 Budapest, Hungary 24 August 2023
400 m 54.34 Rovereto, Italy 29 August 2017

[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Athlete Profile". Power of 10. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Athletics Women's 200m Final". Glasgow 2014 Ltd. Retrieved 7 August 2014.[dead link]
  3. ^ "Athletics Women's 4 x 100m Relay Final". Glasgow 2014 Ltd. Retrieved 7 August 2014.[dead link]
  4. ^ "Report: Women's 4x200m – Nassau 2014". IAAF. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  5. ^ "BBC 100 Women 2023: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. 23 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  6. ^ a b Weaver, Matthew; Media, P. A. (4 December 2023). "British sprinter Bianca Williams banned from driving for six months". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Bianca Williams banned from driving with 29 penalty points". 4 December 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  8. ^ a b Lawton, Matt (6 July 2020). "Met Police's treatment of Bianca Williams and Ricardo dos Santos was wrong, says Sir Keir Starmer". The Times. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  9. ^ Linford Christie [@ChristieLinford] (4 July 2020). "Racist police aren't just in America #BLM" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 July 2020 – via Twitter.
  10. ^ "Williams accuses police of racial profiling". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Williams' 'heart hurts' after police stop car". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  12. ^ a b "Police reach out to sprinter after car stop". BBC News. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Maida Vale vehicle stop voluntarily referred to IOPC". Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  14. ^ Glover, Ella (2 July 2021). "Three Metropolitan Police officers face gross misconduct inquiry over Bianca Williams search". The Independent. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  15. ^ Grierson, Jamie (18 January 2023). "Police watchdog investigator quit over Bianca Williams stop and search complaint". theguardian.com. Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  16. ^ Shaw & Campbell (18 September 2023). "Bianca Williams search: Met Police officers deny gross misconduct". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  17. ^ Dodd, Vikram (25 October 2023). "Met officers guilty of gross misconduct over stop and search of black athletes". theguardian.com. Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  18. ^ Warren & Campbell (25 October 2023). "Bianca Williams: Two Met officers sacked over athlete search gross misconduct". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  19. ^ "Met Police Website - Report on panel's findings and outcome".
  20. ^ Rufo, Yasmin (30 October 2023). "Bianca Williams: 'I'm shocked by Met officer fundraiser'". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  21. ^ "PCs get jobs back after athlete search dismissal". BBC News. 4 October 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Met Police officers sacked over athlete stop and search handed jobs back after winning appeal". Sky News. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  23. ^ "Athlete Profile Bianca Williams". IAAF. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
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