Worthington's team was thrilled when her score of 97.50 was revealed.Great Britain's Charlotte Worthington won a thrilling gold medal in the women's BMX park-freestyle Olympic final after recovering from a fall during her first run.The 25-year old, who quit her job as a chef in 2017 to devote herself to the sport, scored an impressive 97.50 to win gold on her second run.Worthington was unable to score any significance after her fall and had to perform on run 2. She became the first woman in competition to complete a 360-degree backflip - the same trick that put her on the ground during run 1.She was thrilled with her win and then watched four of her rivals, including Hannah Roberts, a hotly tipped American, fail to match her success.Worthington said, "It was amazing," when asked about the pivotal 360-backflip."I haven't been practicing that trick for so many years but we've been trying hard to find the big banger trick, and when we found it we knew that this was it. Hannah Roberts would have made it possible for us to do these tricks and get this far.It's hard work that paid off. Yes, the bike is hard work, but it feels like I have paid the price for my efforts.Worthington scored trick after trick in her second spectacular runThe riders were ranked based on the best of their runs. Worthington's 97.50 transfered all the pressure to Roberts who seemed to be cruising to victory after her run one score of 96.10.The American teenager, who had just completed her first run and had already thrown her bike, couldn't complete her second stint of 60 seconds on the Tokyo course. Her concession, however, confirmed Worthington as champion.Roberts, who won all three World Cup events in BMX Freestyle's final complete season in 2019, looked distraught at the turn around and Worthington's team seemed overjoyed by the win.Roberts said that there was a lot going, and that she beat Nikita Ducarroz from Switzerland to win bronze. "My first run was good, but I knew there were areas I could improve. I fell and injured my ankle."It was an honor to be second to Charlotte. Backflip 360 for women's park BMX: So many people trying the world's most difficult tricks. It's an exciting time in our sport.Worthington claims she has made lifestyle changes to improve her performanceWorthington's success comes after silver and gold medals for Kye Whyte and Bethany Shriever from Britain in BMX racing at Games. It caps a remarkable few day for the sport's UK community.Worthington, a late convert, to BMX, decided to quit her job as a chef and tell BBC Sport that she had been working in the kitchen for more than 40 hours a week, and had barely any energy to go out on the bike.She described the move as a "lifestyle shift" and was keen to highlight how her personal development had provided the foundation for her ability to improve her riding skills.Worthington admits that Tokyo 2020 was delayed so she has had more time to perfect the tricks she needs on the big stage.She now holds the British, European, and Olympic titles.This win proved her courage and will be admired by everyone.She was always looking for new techniques and dominating rivals to ensure that she had everything she needed when the time came.
