Background
Cook was born in Townsville, Queensland.
volleyball player beach volleyball player
Cook was born in Townsville, Queensland.
She became the first Australian woman to compete at five Olympic Games. She was the dux of her school, Corinda State High (located in the western suburbs of Brisbane). She enrolled in pre-medicine college courses, and also took up volleyball, captaining the Australian Indoor Junior Team in 1992.
In 1993 she began playing beach volleyball.
In 1994 she went professional and gave up her pursuit of a medical degree. Cook partnered with Kerri Pottharst to represent Australia at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, winning a bronze medal—the first time that beach volleyball had been an Olympic sport.
Cook and Pottharst did not play together again until 2000. They finished third in the World Tour Events, held in France and Portugal, and then participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
They dominated the competition, winning the gold medal.
Cook and Pottharst were included in the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball"s Team of the Decade. They were subsequently selected to represent Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics. After a promising start, they finished out of medal contention, losing to teams from Brazil and the United States.
Foreign the 2008 Summer Olympics, Cook partnered with Tamsin Barnett, finishing fifth overall.
On 1 August 2012, Cook"s record breaking beach volleyball career came to an end with her elimination from her fifth games in London.
In the same year, the pair won a silver medal at the world championships, and came first in the World Tour Event in Japan. In the aftermath of their Olympic win, the pair were awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. They won a bronze medal at the 2003 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, and by the end of the 2003 world tour, were ranked fourth in the world.
