Stephanie Cook

Stephanie Cook took up modern pentathlon during her time at Oxford University and four years later she had achieved the ultimate goal of Olympic Gold in Sydney 2000, a feat never before achived by a British woman.

Stephanie Cook took up modern pentathlon during her time at Oxford University and four years later she had achieved the ultimate goal of Olympic Gold in Sydney 2000, a feat never before achieved by a British woman.

SPORT BIO

At first Stephanie Cook was more involved in rowing and athletics than modern pentathlon at university following in her sisters footsteps. However a stress fracture to her rib forced her to retire from rowing and when she arrived at Lincoln College, Oxford she took up modern pentathlon. It was to her the ultimate challenge - one sport incorporating 5 diverse events.

As a child Steph had been involved in her local pony club; therefore she was skilled in two of the disciplines of her new sport, and as a capable swimmer had experience in the third. Although she was a novice at shooting and fencing, she quickly became adept at both and was selected to represent Great Britain whilst still a student. In 1998, while still studying, Steph won a team silver medal at the World Championships and a team relay bronze medal.

Juggling training with medical studies became more and more difficult, so in 1999 Steph put her medical career on hold while putting all her efforts into her preparation for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The training schedule was rigorous and very hard work, not suprising when training for not one but five different sports. However her determination and desire to acheive paid off and she excelled in the sport of modern pentathlon.

At the World Championships in 1999 Steph claimed the silver medal and gold in the team relay and at the European Championships she took silver. The ultimate prize came at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000 where in the last event the running she made up a 49 second deficit and  passed the leader with 250m to go to clinch the gold medal.

Individually she won the World Championships the follwoing summer as well as being part of the Great Britain team that won the relay and team events. Steph was awarded the MBE for her services to the sport, before opting to retire at the age of 29 to resume her medical career.

SPECIALIST AREAS

As well as being a  full time doctor, Steph also has time to do motivational speaking and has done this for a number of high profile companies including British Airways, Natwest Bank and Walkers. Having achieved the ultimate goal, Steph is able to convey the steps needed to fulfil your potential and how to achieve success in the work place.

She is also excellent at dealing with the media having taken part in many interviews and been the focus of a number of feature articles. Steph has also done a variety of TV appearances including Grandstand, This is Your Life, A Question of Sport and Sport Relief.