Sacramento Topics

Event: Fencing, saber
Local affiliation: Sacramento
Born: Sept. 22, 1985.

Williams, whose hometown is Sacramento, and who graduated from Rio Americano High School in 2003, is on his second U.S. Olympic team, having been part of the silver medal-winning saber team in Beijing in 2008. He competed in three matches during the gold medal bout against France. Williams, 6-foot-2 and 168 pounds, won national championships in 2012 and has been ranked as high as 18th in the world. A graduate of Columbia University, he earned bachelor’s degree in U.S. history and Russian and a master's degree in Slavic cultures. Currently living in New York City, he is ranked third in the U.S. and 32nd in the world in saber. Williams twice was named second-team All-America at Columbia, was two-time team captain and won the Ivy League Championships three times, He also was named to the Academic All Ivy Team twice. Williams was quoted in a published interview as citing these goals for his second Olympics: “I'd like to go clothing shopping. . . . Visit a couple pubs. . . . Win another medal. I want to develop a passable British accent by the time I return home.”