Steph Cook

Olympic medal record
Women's Modern Pentathlon
Competitor for  Great Britain
Gold 2000 Sydney Individual

Stephanie Cook MBE (born 7 February 1972 in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland) is a retired modern pentathlete and Olympic gold medallist.

She was educated at Bedford High School; The Perse School for Girls; Peterhouse, Cambridge and then Lincoln College, Oxford, where she read medicine.

Having rowed at Cambridge she took up modern pentathlon whilst completing her course in clinical medicine at Oxford. She was president of the Oxford University Modern Pentathlon Association 1995-1996. She won the women's individual title in the Varsity match against Cambridge in 1997.

Although widely reported as "Having put her medical career on hold", she was supported through her training from 1998 to 2000 by Consultant Surgeon Mark Whiteley who funded a research job for her in Guildford - during which she published 3 papers with him.[1][2][3] She paid him tribute during the TV show "This is your life".[4] She went on to she won the gold medal in the Sydney 2000 Olympics in the women's modern pentathlon, the first time that the event was included in the games. She went on to win individual world and European titles in 2001 before retiring from the sport. Her particular strength was running.

In the New Year Honours 2001, Cook was appointed as a member of the Order of The British Empire for services to Modern Pentathlon[5]

She was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Medicine) from the University of Bath in 2008.

References

  1. ↑ Whiteley MS, Cook SJ. (May 2000). "The 'morbidity and mortality' meeting--no longer defensible as surgical audit. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2000 May;82(5 Suppl):168.". Royal College of Surgeons of England. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
  2. ↑ Cook SJ, Rocker MD, Jarvis MR, Whiteley MS. (July 2000). "Patient outcome alone does not justify the centralisation of vascular services. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2000 Jul;82(4):268-71.". Royal College of Surgeons of England. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  3. ↑ Rutherford EE, Kianifard B, Cook SJ, Holdstock JM, Whiteley MS. (May 2001). "Incompetent perforating veins are associated with recurrent varicose veins. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2001 May;21(5):458-60.". Royal College of Surgeons of England. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
  4. ↑ BBC TV (Feb 2002). "This is Your Life - Stephanie Cook - BBC TV 2002". Retrieved September 7, 2014.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 56070. p. 15. 30 December 2000.