Sarah Cook (rower)

Last updated

Sarah Cook
Personal information
Born4 February 1985 (1985-02-04) (age 39)
Ipswich, Queensland
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals London 2012 W8+
Medal record
Women's rowing
Representing Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
World Rowing Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2010 New Zealand Four
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2006 Eton Eight
World Rowing Cup
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2007 Linz Coxless pair
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2006 Munich Eight
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2007 Amsterdam Coxless pair

Sarah Ann Patricia Cook (born 4 February 1985 in Ipswich, Queensland) is an Australian former representative rower. She was a six-time national champion and a dual Olympian who represented at senior World Rowing Championships from 2006 to 2011. Since competitive retirement she has been a rowing coach, commentator and a sports administrator at the highest levels. She has been a board member and since 2021, the Chief Operating Officer of Rowing Australia. [1] Since 2022 she has been a member of the World Rowing Council representing Oceania. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Rowing Australia, and a World Rowing Council member.

Contents

Club and state rowing

Cook was raised in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory and educated at St Clare's College, Canberra. Her senior club rowing was initially with the Canberra Rowing Club and later from the Sydney University Boat Club.

She first made state selection for the ACT in the 2006 senior women's eight contesting the Queen's Cup at the Interstate Regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships. [2] She made further Queen's Cup appearances in 2007, [3] 2008, and 2010. [4]

In 2006 in Canberra Rowing Club colours, Cook won her first national championship title in a composite coxless four. [5] In 2007, Cook and her new pairs partner Kim Crow won the women's pair national title at the Australian Rowing Championships. [6]

At the 2008 Australian Rowing Championships which doubled as Olympic selection trials Cook and Crow backed up their defence as national champions in the W2- by dominating the A final. Cook and Crow then stroked two competing fours, Cook in a composite crew and Crow in the Melbourne University Boat Club crew to win silver and gold respectively. The results were reversed in the W8+ final with Cook in a composite crew winning gold and Crow winning silver. The results speak of the versatility of these two rowers, their underlying competitiveness and ability to stay relaxed and comfortable, either rowing with or against each other.

The 2009 Australian Rowing Championships showed testament to her versatility with Cook securing bronze in the women's single scull contesting the Nell Slatter Trophy in the Interstate Regatta. [7] in 2010 wearing Sydney University Boat Club colours Cook combined with Crowe, Sally Kehoe and Kerry Hore to claim gold in the quad at the national championships and won bronze in both the women's eight and in a double scull with Hore. [8]

International rowing career

Cook made her Australian representative debut at the U23 World Rowing Championships held in Poznan, Poland (then known as the Nation's Cup) in a women's coxless four. The crew won silver. [9] The following year Cook competed in the same event at the U23 World Championships hosted in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Days before the regatta, she fell ill with a throat infection and had barely recovered before racing commenced. The crew finished sixth. 2005 ended with an invitation to the join the Australian senior women's squad at the Australian Institute of Sport. Cook suffered a broken sternum in a motor vehicle accident which kept her off the water for two months, but still won selection into the Australian senior women's eight for the 2006 World Rowing Championships at Eton Dorney, UK, where the women's eight won a bronze medal. [9]

In 2007, Cook and Crow gained selection for Australia in the pair and in the eight. In the pair they won gold at World Rowing Cup I in Linz, Austria and bronze at WRC II in Amsterdam and Cook also raced in the eight at both regattas. [9] Then Cook and Crow went on to place fourth in both the eight and the pair at the 2008 World Rowing Championships in Munich, Germany. In doing so they qualified both boats for Australia for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. [9]

The final Olympic selection trials were held in February 2008. Cook and Crow achieved selection in the Australian coxless pair for the Beijing Olympics where they placed tenth. [9]

Cook and Crow again impressed selectors in 2009 and led the field to secure selection as the Australian pair for the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poland. Cook and Crow went on to place fifth at the championships in their first international race back since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. [9] In 2010 Cook raced in the women's pair with Sarah Tait at WRC II and III and then competed in the women's four at the 2010 World Rowing Championships on Lake Karapiro in New Zealand where she won silver. [9]

In 2011 Cook made the switch to sculling and was selected in the Australian women's quad scull to compete at the Henley Royal Regatta, the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, and the 2011 World Rowing Championships. [9] In 2012, Cook's final year of international representation she moved back into the Australian women's eight. She rowed in the four seat at Olympic Qualification regatta in Bled, Slovenia; at a World Rowing Cup in the Olympic lead-up and at the 2012 London Olympics where the crew finished in sixth place. [9] It was Cook's last rowing international appearance.

Sailing career

Cook represented on the Australian sailing squad for three years from 2013 to 2015 in the 470 and 49erFX classes. In 2013 Cook and her sailing partner, Beijing Olympic gold medallist Elise Rechichi, won the national title in the 470 Class. They finished eighth at the 2013 World Titles. [10]

Career after competition

Since competitive retirement Cook has coached school rowing at PLC Sydney, Wesley College Melbourne, St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, Kinross Wolaroi School and Canberra Grammar School. She became a board member at Sydney University Sport & Fitness, Rowing NSW, Baseball Australia and from 2016 a councillor, then board member at Rowing Australia. In 2022 she took on the role of Chief Operating Officer of Rowing Australia. [1]

Cook is a World Rowing Broadcast Commentator and was a 2019 race steward at the Henley Royal Regatta. [11] Since 2022 she has been a member of the World Rowing Council representing Oceania. [12]

Inaugural inductee to University of Canberra Sport Walk of Fame in 2022. [13]

Related Research Articles

Julia Wilson is an Australian former rower, a two-time World Champion and a dual Olympian.

Duncan Seth Free is a retired Australian rower and Olympic gold medallist. He is 4-time Olympian and two-time world champion who represented Australia at four world rowing championships in both sculls and sweep oared boats. He was a six-time Australian national sculling champion.

Emily Martin is an Australian former rower, a three time world champion and an Olympian.

Pauline Frasca is an Australian former rower – a national champion, two-time world champion and a dual Olympian. She has represented at the elite world level as both a sculler and a sweep-oar rower.

Robyn Selby Smith is an Australian former rower. She is a national champion, a three-time world champion and an Olympian whose international success came in sweep-oared heavyweight crews.

Jo Lutz is an Australian former rower, a three-time world champion.

Jane Robinson is an Australian former rower - a national champion, three-time World Champion and triple Olympian. She competed at the Summer Olympics in 1996, 2000 and 2004; and at World Rowing Championships in 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, and 2003. She won World Championships as both a sculler and a sweep-oared rower. She attended Toorak College in Mount Eliza, Victoria.

Victoria Roberts is an Australian former rower, a dual Olympian, and a three-time world champion. She went back-to-back winning the coxless four World Championship title in 2001 and 2002.

Catriona Sens is an Australian former representative rower. She was a national champion, an underage 2002 world champion, a dual Olympian and won a silver medal at the 2006 World Rowing Championships. She rowed in the Australian women's eight at the 2004 Athens Olympics and in the double scull at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Jodi Winter is an Australian rower, a two-time World Champion and a dual Olympian.

Kristina Larsen is an Australian former representative rower. She is a two-time World Champion, an Olympian and won ten Australian national championship titles in sweep-oared boats, often at stroke.

Paul Anthony Thompson MBE is an Australian elite level rowing coach and former rower. As a rower he was an Australian under-age champion, won a silver medal at the 1985 U23 World Championships and rowed in senior King's Cup eights for both South Australia and New South Wales. He has coached Australian and British crews to World Championship titles and Olympic medals including taking Kate Slatter and Megan Still to Australia's first women's Olympic rowing gold at Atlanta 1996. By 2012 he was Great Britain's head coach for women and lightweights and took British crews to three gold and two silver medals at London 2012. Since 2022 he has been Rowing Australia's High Performance Director.

Polly Swann is a British rower and a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team. She is a former World and European champion in the women's coxless pairs, having won the 2013 World Rowing Championships at Chungju in Korea, and the 2014 European Rowing Championships at Belgrade, Serbia with her partner Helen Glover. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the women's eight.

Molly Goodman is an Australian rower. She is a national champion, a dual Olympian and a world champion winning the 2017 world title in a coxless four. She stroked the Australian eight to victory in the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta. She stroked the Australian women's eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Lucy Stephan is an Australian rower. She is a multiple Australian champion, a 2016 and 2020 Olympian and a world champion who won a 2017 world title in the coxless four and regained that same world title in 2019. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics she set the pace from the bow seat of the Australian coxless four to a gold medal victory. She won the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta in the Australian women's eight.

Katrina Werry is an Olympian and Australian national and two-time world champion rower. At the 2017 World Rowing Championships, she became world champion in the women's coxless four with Lucy Stephan, Sarah Hawe, and Molly Goodman. She regained that coxless four world championship title in 2019. She won the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta in the Australian women's eight. She rowed in the Australian women's eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Sarah Hawe is an Australian rower. She is an Australian national champion, an Olympian and a two-time world champion winning the 2019 and 2017 world titles in the coxless four. She was a winner of the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta in the Australian women's eight. She rowed in the Australian women's eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Sarah Heard is a former Australian representative rower. She was a twelve-time Australian national and 2005 world champion. She stroked the Australian senior women's eight at the premier world regattas every year from 2005 to 2008 and including the women's eight final at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Sonia Mills is an Australian former rower – an Australian national champion, world champion and an Olympian. She had world championship success in both sculls and in sweep-oared boat classes. She competed in the women's double sculls event at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Rosemary Popa is an Australian national champion rower, Olympic gold medalist, and former rower for the University of California, Berkeley. A dual citizen of Australia and the United States, she has represented both countries at World Rowing Championships, twice winning medals for Australia. She won the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta in the Australian women's eight. In 2021, she was selected to represent Australia in the coxless four event at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, where she won the gold medal.

References

  1. 1 2 Cook appointed COO RA
  2. ↑ 2006 Queens Cup at Guerin Foster
  3. ↑ 2007 Queen's Cup at Guerin Foster
  4. ↑ 2010 Queen's Cup
  5. ↑ 2006 Australian Championships
  6. ↑ 2007 Australian Championships
  7. ↑ 2009 Interstate Regatta
  8. ↑ 2010 Australian Championships at Guerin-Foster
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cook at World Rowing
  10. ↑ Cook post rowing
  11. ↑ Cook a Henley steward
  12. ↑ World Rowing Council 2022
  13. ↑ "Walk of Fame Members". University of Canberra. 18 November 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.