Strictly’s Sarah Storey Opens Up On ‘HORRIBLE’ Experience That Left Her Feeling ‘Dreadful’
Dame Sarah Storey has opened up about the difficult period she faced after the birth of her second child, revealing that major blood loss left her feeling “absolutely dreadful” for a prolonged period.
The 48-year-old Paralympic champion, who is preparing to make her Strictly Come Dancing debut this weekend, spoke candidly about the experience during an appearance on BBC’s Morning Live.
Sarah, who has won 19 Paralympic gold medals during her extraordinary sporting career, explained that her haemoglobin levels fell dramatically after she gave birth to her son Charlie.
“After I had my second child, Charlie, I lost a lot of blood and my haemoglobin levels went from really high, nearly 16, which is good as an athlete, to below 10,” she said.
The change had a significant impact on how she felt physically.
“I felt absolutely dreadful,” Sarah admitted, explaining that restoring her iron levels and ferritin stores proved extremely difficult.
Sarah Says Recovery Was ‘Really, Really Hard’
For an elite athlete accustomed to closely monitoring her physical condition, the prolonged recovery was particularly challenging.
Sarah said her iron levels and haemoglobin eventually returned to healthier levels, but she believes her ferritin stores may never have fully returned to what they once were.
“Trying to get those iron levels back up and ultimately trying to recover my ferritin stores was really, really hard,” she explained.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had high ferritin stores ever since, it’s almost like a permanent change.”
Sarah acknowledged that she was unsure whether that could genuinely be a permanent effect, but said the experience had nevertheless stayed with her.
“My iron levels are back up and my haemoglobin, but yeah, it was really horrible because you just feel dreadful for such a long time,” she added.
Her comments came as she discussed her latest challenge — swapping elite sport for the Strictly ballroom.
Six-Hour Rehearsals Ahead of Strictly Debut
Sarah revealed that preparations for the BBC competition have already been demanding.
During one day this week, she spent around six hours rehearsing as she prepares to perform in the launch episode.
Despite the intensity of training, Sarah is refusing to reveal the identity of her professional dance partner.
She has reportedly kept the secret even from members of her own family because she does not want to accidentally spoil the reveal before viewers see it on television.
Sarah will compete against a packed line-up including Lacey Turner, Dani Dyer, Will Best, Lawrence Robb, John Nellis, Bethany Antonia and Melanie Walters.
Also joining the competition are Delta Goodrem, Chris Appleton, Cach Mercer, Jaime Winstone, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Tabby Stoecker and Graeme “The Dogfather” Hall.
Although Sarah is no stranger to high-pressure competition, she has admitted that Strictly presents a completely different type of challenge.
‘Completely Out of My Comfort Zone’
Speaking to the BBC before stepping onto the dancefloor, Sarah was asked what worried her most about taking part.
“The whole thing!” she admitted.
She explained that nerves were not necessarily a bad sign, arguing that they simply showed how much she cared about performing well.
But Sarah said the preparation process was very different from what she experiences as a professional athlete.
In sport, she is used to understanding every detail of an event and knowing exactly what a strong performance should look like.
On Strictly, much of the preparation is instead guided by other people.
“This is a different type of experience and competition to being an athlete,” she said.
Sarah admitted that appearing on national television in a competition she knows relatively little about is “completely out of my comfort zone”.
Yet that uncertainty is also part of the attraction.
“But that’s one of the reasons I am so excited too!” she added.
This weekend’s launch will also introduce a new presenting team following the departures of Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly.
Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe will take over hosting duties for the 2026 series.
For Sarah, however, the focus is now firmly on the dancefloor.
After decades of elite sporting competition and a difficult health experience following childbirth, she is preparing to test herself in an entirely different arena — one where medals, training plans and familiar routines offer very little protection from the nerves of live television.
