Charlotte Burgess (born 25 January 1987 in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

) is a British

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

who represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Early and personal life

Burgess was born in

. She was introduced to archery at eleven years old during a family holiday to the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

. In January 2008 Burgess and her boyfriend were treated for injuries sustained in an attack by a group of teenagers outside an indoor archery range in Cheadle, near

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, the pair both suffering bruising to the face. Despite the assault Burgess managed to qualify for the European Indoor Championships in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

just two days later.

Career

Early career (1998–2008)

Burgess made her debut in competitive archery in 1998, and by 2002 was the second-highest ranked youth archer in Europe. Her success in junior competitions, a strong performance at the 2004 European Outdoor Archery Championships, and her narrow loss to the then three-time Olympian

Alison Williamson Alison Jane Williamson Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 3 November 1971) is a retired British people, British archery, archer who represented Great Britain at the Summer Olympics, Great Britain at six consecutive Olympic Games from 1992 t ...

in the national qualifiers for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

led Burgess to be recognised as an upcoming star of British archery. In 2007 Burgess won a bronze medal for Great Britain alongside Williamson and

Naomi Folkard Naomi Anne Folkard (born 18 September 1983) is a British archer who has represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games five times between 2004 and 2020. She has also represented Great Britain at the World Archery Championships and the Archery Wo ...

in the women's team event at the 2007 World Archery Championships, defeating the Italian team in the bronze medal match to finish third overall. Later that year the three were medallists at the fourth stage of the

2007 Archery World Cup The 2007 Archery World Cup was the 2nd edition of the international archery circuit, organised by the World Archery Federation. The best individual and mixed performers in each discipline over the three legs then joined host representatives in qu ...

held in

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

, winning the women's team recurve tournament. At the

2008 Archery World Cup The 2008 Archery World Cup was the 3rd edition of the international archery circuit, organised by the World Archery Federation. The best individual and mixed performers in each discipline over the three legs then joined host representatives in quali ...

Burgess, again with Williamson and Folkard, won gold medal in the team competition in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

, in April, and a bronze medal in the same event in

Boé Boé (; oc, Boèr) is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in southwestern France. It stands on the ''voie verte'' cycle path along the Canal de Garonne. Geography The Séoune forms part of the commune's eastern border, then flows into t ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, two months later.

2008 Summer Olympics

Burgess qualified to represent

at the 2008 Olympics, competing in both the women's individual and women's team events. Burgess concluded the preliminary ranking round, in which archers were seeded for the subsequent elimination stages based on their total score from 72 arrows, 40th of the 64 competitors. Her tally, combined with that of her teammates Williamson and Folkard, additionally placed Great Britain second for the team elimination rounds, behind only reigning champions South Korea. In the women's team event, which was contested prior to the individual competition, Burgess, Williamson and Folkard secured victory over Japan in the quarter-finals before defeated by China in the semi-finals. They thereby advanced to the bronze medal match against France, who had lost their semi-final match against South Korea. In wet conditions the trio were outscored by the French by a single point over the 216-arrow contest, finishing the event in fourth place. Burgess was less successful in the individual competition, defeating China's

Guo Dan Guo Dan may refer to: * Guo Dan (archer) * Guo Dan (speed skater) Guo Dan (; ; born 6 December 1990) is a Chinese female roller skater who is also specialised in speed skating. She took the sport of roller skating at the age of three and has c ...

in the first round before being eliminated by teammate Folkard in the second round.

Post-Olympics

Burgess narrowly missed out on qualifying for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

held in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

; she did however claim a gold medal alongside Michael Peart at the European Grand Prix in Cyprus in the mixed team recurve competition. In 2015 it was announced that Burgess had joined Team GB's paralympic team as performance coach for the recurve archery athletes. In 2017, Burgess also became the Lead Coach in the training and development of archers for the UK

Invictus Games The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event first held in 2014, for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans. The word 'Invictus' means 'unconquered', chosen as an embodiment of the fighting spi ...

Team. Later the same year, she attended the

2017 Invictus Games The 2017 Invictus Games was a parasport event for wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel and their associated veterans, which was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The third Invictus Games, an event created in 2014 by Prince Harry, inc ...

within the role of Head Coach for Archery. Burgess continued in the Lead Coach role in 2018.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Charlotte 1987 births Living people English female archers Olympic archers of Great Britain Archers at the 2008 Summer Olympics People from Salford World Archery Championships medalists