WORTHINGTON Charlotte

General
FROM CHEF TO ATHLETE
After she left college, she worked in a Mexican restaurant close to her family home in Manchester, England, before focusing on BMX fully in 2018 after she was selected by British Cycling. "I started as a glass collector, then I was a food runner and when people began talking to me and realising I was a bit of a tomboy they thought I'd do well in the kitchen. I had some pretty fun times and although it was never meant to be permanent I was working as a cook in various restaurants for about three years. I was sweating it out in the kitchen for over 40 hours a week and barely had any time or energy to ride, but then the sport went into the Olympics and last year [2018] I was picked up by British Cycling. I had the choice of, 'Do I want to work these crazy hours and not live a very good lifestyle, or follow my dream of doing BMX?' My lifestyle before this was not the lifestyle of an elite athlete. After being a chef for three years I was on minimal sleep, poor diet and never working out, then I had a wake-up call in 2018 after competing in France. British Cycling know how to make champions and I realised I needed to buckle down, make changes, get more sleep, improve my diet and hit the gym." (tokyo2020.org, 11 Aug 2020; bbc.com, 05 Nov 2019)

In October 2019 she became the first ever women's BMX freestyle European champion when she won the inaugural edition held in Cadenazzo, Switzerland. (tokyo2020.org, 11 Aug 2020; bbc.com, 05 Nov 2019; uec.ch, 13 Oct 2019)