National team Canada Strokes Freestyle Weight 67 kg | Sport Swimming Height 1.75 m Stroke Freestyle swimming | |
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Born January 2, 1991 (age 26) ( 1991-01-02 ) Pretoria, South Africa Club High Performance Centre - Ontario Profiles |
Michelle Williams (born January 2, 1991) is a Canadian competition swimmer who specializes in the freestyle in the sprint distances. She won a gold medal in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto in the 4 x 100 m freestyle and in the 4 x 100 m medley relay. She also won a bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 4 x 100 m freestyle.
She competed as part of Canada's Olympic team for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Williams would help fellow Canadians Taylor Ruck, Chantal van Landeghem and Sandrine Mainville in the women's 4 x 100 m freestyle relay heats, with the team swimming the third fastest time. Unfortunately she would have to make way for teenage star Penelope Oleksiak in the final, there Oleksiak helped anchor the team to the bronze medal. Despite her disappointment at not swimming the final, Williams got to wear a bronze medal on national TV when Oleksiak let Williams wear hers during a CBC Sports interview. In the interview Williams said "we've come a long way, this group of us. It's our medal and it's our medal for Canada, it's just so amazing."
Personal
Williams was born in Pretoria, South Africa and speaks fluent Afrikaans alongside English, she goes back to South Africa to visit her family in Jeffreys Bay.