Afghan bodybuilder Roya Karimi on going from child bride to champion

Roya Karimi is getting ready to compete in the world bodybuilding championships, 15 years after fleeing Afghanistan.

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Her glowing, tanned skin shows off each of her well-defined muscle lines, the result of hours of weight training in the gym.

Roya Karimi's perfectly-applied make-up and hair highlighted blonde wouldn't look out of place in the finals of Miss Universe.

It is hard to imagine that just 15 years ago, she was a teenage mother in Afghanistan, married off as a child bride, before she escaped to her new life.

Now aged 30, she is one of Europe's top bodybuilders, and will be competing in the World Bodybuilding Championships this week. Her rise has been meteoric – she only took up the sport professionally less than two years ago.