Charlotte Burgess

Lore & Background

Burgess was introduced to archery at age eleven during a family holiday to the Isle of Wight. She made her competitive debut in 1998 and by 2002 was the second-highest ranked youth archer in Europe. Her performance at the 2004 European Outdoor Archery Championships and a narrow loss to three-time Olympian Alison Williamson in the 2004 Olympic qualifiers marked her as an emerging talent. In January 2008, Burgess and her boyfriend were attacked by a group of teenagers outside an indoor archery range in Cheadle, near Stockport, both suffering facial bruising; despite the assault, she qualified for the European Indoor Championships in Turin two days later. At the 2008 Olympics, she competed in both the women's individual and team events. In the team competition, she, Williamson, and Folkard defeated Japan in the quarter-finals, lost to China in the semi-finals, and then lost the bronze medal match to France by a single point in wet conditions, finishing fourth. Individually, she beat China's Guo Dan in the first round before losing to teammate Folkard in the second round. After the Olympics, she narrowly missed qualifying for the 2012 London Games but won a gold medal with Michael Peart at the European Grand Prix in Cyprus in the mixed team recurve event. In 2015, she joined Team GB's paralympic team as performance coach for recurve archery. In 2017, she became Lead Coach for training and development of archers for the UK Invictus Games Team and later that year served as Head Coach for Archery at the 2017 Invictus Games, continuing in the Lead Coach role in 2018.

Reader's Guide

Charlotte Burgess's career illustrates a trajectory from youth prominence to senior international competition and later into coaching. Her bronze medal at the 2007 World Archery Championships, alongside Williamson and Folkard, placed her among Britain's top archers in the team recurve discipline. The 2008 Olympics saw the British women's team finish fourth, losing the bronze medal match to France by a single point, a narrow margin that underscored the competitiveness of the event. Burgess's resilience was demonstrated when she qualified for the European Indoor Championships just two days after being assaulted. Her post-competition career shifted to coaching, where she contributed to Team GB's paralympic program as a performance coach and later took leadership roles in the Invictus Games, training and developing archers for the UK team. This transition from athlete to coach highlights her sustained involvement in archery beyond her own competitive years.

Did You Know?

• In January 2008, she and her boyfriend were attacked by teenagers outside an indoor archery range, yet she qualified for the European Indoor Championships two days later.
• She won a bronze medal at the 2007 World Archery Championships with Alison Williamson and Naomi Folkard.
• At the 2008 Olympics, the British women's team lost the bronze medal match to France by a single point.

From Salford to the European Juniors

Charlotte Burgess was born on 25 January 1987 in Salford, and her connection to archery began almost by accident. At just eleven years old, she picked up a bow for the first time during a family holiday to the Isle of Wight, an experience that would define the rest of her sporting life. She entered competitive archery in 1998, and her talent quickly became apparent across the junior circuit. By 2002 she had climbed to the position of second-highest ranked youth archer in all of Europe, a remarkable achievement for a teenager still in her early teens. Her trajectory continued upward with a strong showing at the 2004 European Outdoor Archery Championships, which cemented her reputation among coaches and selectors. That same year she came agonisingly close to making the Olympic squad, losing narrowly to the then three-time Olympian Alison Williamson in the national qualifiers. That near-miss, combined with her junior results, marked Burgess as one of the most promising young archers in British archery.

Resilience and the 2008 Olympic Dream

In January 2008, just weeks before the Olympic season, Burgess and her boyfriend were attacked by a group of teenagers outside an indoor archery range in Cheadle, near Stockport. Both suffered bruising to the face and required medical treatment. Yet remarkably, just two days after the assault, Burgess stepped onto the shooting line at the European Indoor Championships in Turin and qualified, a display of mental fortitude that would foreshadow her Olympic campaign. She earned her place at the 2008 Games in Beijing, competing in both the individual and team events. In the preliminary ranking round of 72 arrows she finished 40th among 64 competitors, but her combined score with teammates Williamson and Folkard placed Great Britain second overall for the team elimination rounds, behind only reigning champions South Korea. In the team event the trio dispatched Japan in the quarter-finals before falling to China in the semi-finals. The bronze medal match against France was decided by a single point across 216 arrows in wet conditions, leaving the team in fourth place. In the individual draw, Burgess defeated China's Guo Dan in the first round before being eliminated by her own teammate Folkard.

A World-Class Team Weapon

Burgess's most consistent success came in the women's team event, where she formed a formidable trio with Alison Williamson and Naomi Folkard. At the 2007 World Archery Championships the three claimed a bronze medal, defeating the Italian team in the bronze medal match to secure third place overall. Their momentum carried into the 2007 Archery World Cup, where they captured the women's team recurve title at the fourth stage held in Dover. The following year saw even greater results: at the 2008 Archery World Cup the British trio won the team gold medal in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in April, and then added a bronze in the same team event at the Boé stage in France two months later. These results demonstrated that Burgess was not merely a supporting cast member but a central pillar of one of Europe's most dangerous team combinations. Her ability to deliver under pressure in multi-arrow team formats, where consistency across the entire squad mattered as much as individual brilliance, made her an indispensable part of Great Britain's archery programme during this period.

Beyond the Podium: Coaching and Legacy

After narrowly missing out on a second Olympic qualification for the 2012 London Games, Burgess continued to compete at a high level, claiming a gold medal alongside Michael Peart in the mixed team recurve competition at the European Grand Prix in Cyprus. However, her most enduring contribution to British archery came after she transitioned into coaching. In 2015 she was announced as the performance coach for the recurve archery athletes on Team GB's Paralympic squad, a role that bridged her competitive experience with the development of disabled athletes. In 2017 she took on the Lead Coach position for the UK Invictus Games Team, responsible for the training and development of their archers, and then served as Head Coach for Archery at the 2017 Invictus Games themselves. She continued in the Lead Coach capacity into 2018. Through these roles Burgess channeled the discipline and tactical knowledge she had honed over two decades of competition into shaping the next generation of British and international archers.