Hockeyroo and Wiradjuri woman, Mariah Williams, has taken to the stage at her second Olympic Games today. 

Her journey to Olympic glory is one of great resilience, with the 26-year-old spending almost as much time undergoing surgery and rehab, as she has had playing at international level.  

Growing up in Parkes in the Central West region of NSW, Williams, who was born without one of the ligaments in her knee, never let this stop her from getting involved in an array of sports.  

She first picked up a hockey stick when she was four years old, but also dabbled in football (soccer) and touch footy until a school visit from triple Olympian and Kookaburra, Stephen Davies, inspired Williams to commit to hockey and chase the Olympic dream. 

By the time she was 13 years old, she was scouted as impressive talent and began climbing the junior representative ranks before moving to Newcastle to attend Hunter Sports High School to hone her craft. 

2013 was a big year for the then 17-year-old. Williams made her international debut with her impressive form winning her the title of Most Promising New Talent in Sport at the Deadly Awards. 

She participated in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival and the 2013 Junior Oceania and Junior World Cup where she captained the Jillaroos to a bronze medal. 

It seemed like Williams was well on her way to securing an Olympic debut, but her rise was cruelly cut down by issues relating to her knee. 

By the time she was 21 years-old, Williams had already undergone four knee surgeries, her first, on her right knee, came just after she made her national team debut. 

She returned to full-time training but six months later, injured her left knee, requiring her second surgery in eight months. 

She returned to the squad in 2014, ready to take on her first senior world cup and Commonwealth Games and a month out, she injured her right knee again requiring a further six months of rehab. 

“I did my knee injury when I was still in school, I was 17 and had to have surgery but made my debut with the Hockeyroos and then injured my left knee so ended up having two surgeries in eight months,” the talented forward said. 

“In 2014 I got back into everything, I’d recovered and had gone away with the Hockeyroos for a tournament about a month before the 2014 World Cup and the Commonwealth Games and I injured my knee again and needed to take another six months off.” 

Finally, in 2015, Williams started to get some solid training blocks under her belt and coupled with impressive performances, she was primed to make her Olympic debut. 

But her run without injury didn’t last long…  

Twelve weeks out from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Williams again injured her left knee, needing another surgery. 

Williams was staring down the barrel of missing her maiden Olympic Games and was devastated. 

“It was really hard, but I think the good thing about it was that I was still quite young and determined, so I tried to compare it to having some time off, the same way you have Christmas off,” Williams said. 

“I love the sport so much and I wanted to compete, so I just kept pushing through it.” 

Luckily, her determination and positive outlook paid off and Williams just scraped in. 

Returning to training five weeks before the Rio 2016 Games, she proved her fitness and competed at her first Games where she scored a goal against Japan the Hockeyroos progressed to the quarterfinals before being knocked out. 

“When I found out I’d made the Olympic team for Rio, my sister was recording me waiting for this crazy celebration, but all I felt was relief,” Williams laughed. 

“All of this hard work and everything I had been through had finally paid off and it wasn’t until the first game of the Olympics that my emotions went through the roof.  

“We were all in the tunnel lined up, ready to run out into our first game against Great Britain and I just had tears running down my face. 

“It hit me that I’d put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into getting there and heading into that first game just made it feel real. Words can't really explain the feeling, it was unreal.” 

After Rio, Williams was again forced to go under the knife for an ongoing adductor and pubic synthesis joint injury. 

After eight months of being misdiagnosed, her surgery involved having her abdominals cut and her adductor tendon being extended before spending two weeks post-surgery in a wheelchair and three months unable to do any exercise. 

It ruled her out of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, World Cup and Champions Trophy and side-lined her for two years, which she refers to as the loneliest time of her life. 

“That one was definitely the hardest injury I’ve had. I wasn’t able to run for six months and that was really, really tough, but mentally, it was the worst” Williams shared. 

“I was away from the team for months; we didn’t have much contact and all I could do was light gym. 

“I couldn’t play the sport that I loved or be with my teammates and the times when I’d travel back home, I felt like I wasn’t really an athlete anymore, I wasn’t really a hockey player and I slipped into the mindset that it was all too hard.” 

Luckily, Williams was completing her rehab in Canberra through the AIS where she had access to a psychologist which made all the difference and alongside her doctor, physio and strength coaches, she was planning her return to the pitch. 

“I was struggling a lot, but I knew I could push through, because Tokyo was my aim,” she said. 

“I love my team and being out there, playing with the girls is just an unbelievable feeling, so I stuck it out and it paid off.” 

Williams made another short return to play, before suffering stress fractures and hyperextending her knee which put her out for another eight months, in fact, it was only in June of this year, during National Reconciliation Week, that Williams lined up for the Hockeyroos in what seemed like forever for the 26-year-old. 

Befittingly, the Hockeyroos donned their Indigenous uniform, which was designed by Australia’s first Indigenous gold medallist and former Hockeyroo, Nova Peris and featured artwork by Indigenous artist, Nathan Patterson.

Williams scored a scintillating goal against New Zealand and provided an assist to teammate, Steph Kershaw, to announce her return. 

Without her character-building experiences of dealing with a multitude of injuries, she says she wouldn’t be the athlete she is today. 

“They’ve definitely been the biggest struggles of my career, but my injuries are what have made me who I am today,” Williams shared. 

“When I was younger, I thought I didn’t have to worry about injuries, so I’d skip things in the gym, but now I know those exercises are critical in keeping my body in peak condition, so it’s made me a better player and a better person, being more disciplined.” 

Just as it was ahead of Rio 2016, by the skin of her teeth, Williams was able to get her body right for Olympic selection just in time and on June 14, she was announced to her second Australian Olympic Games Team. 

“It’s such an incredible thing, to represent your country. It’s something so many people will never get the chance to do, so to be able to do it at the biggest sporting event in the world, is just amazing,” Williams said. 

With a wealth of experience already under her belt, this time around, Williams says she will accept nothing less than a top of the podium finish. 

“When I competed at Rio and we lost our games, I decided that for the next Olympics, I didn’t want to go, just to compete. This time, I’m going to win a gold medal.” 

Liana Buratti