Prince William has told Team GB boxer Lauren Price “to make her grandparents proud” ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, with the 27-year-old medal hopeful admitting she has been through a “mentally challenging” 18 months ahead of the Games.
Middleweight boxer Price was in the form of her life when the Olympic Games were postponed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic and went without a fight for 18 months as her preparations were hit.
Prince william & boxer.
The Welsh amateur, who has also represented her country in football and kickboxing, is competing in the Olympics for the first time but told the Duke of Cambridge of how she lost her grandad Derek to dementia in the past year.
Price, the current world amateur champion is among the best British hopes ahead of the start of the Games in Tokyo, despite the overall challenges of the past two years.
“Mentally, it was very tough and challenging at times. I was 18 months out of the ring,” Price told the Duke of Cambridge in an interview produced by BBC Sport at Kensington Palace.
“In 2019 I’d just won European Games and then I won the World Championships the following year. I was meant to qualify [for the Olympics] in March. Then we had the coronavirus pandemic and the Olympic Games were postponed.
“There were a lot of question marks in my head after 18 months out of the ring, [questions like] am I as good as I used to be? It was hard, it was really mentally challenging. Not so much physical, but mentally more than anything.”
She added: “The Olympics mean the world to me. If I could win a gold medal it would top everything in my career. It’s something I take with me, knowing that he [her grandad] is always looking down on me.”
Prince William told Price: “I’d bet your grandpa is very proud of you, and I’m sure you’ll make him even more proud at the Olympics.”
