COOK Oliver

Great Britain

Rowing

Date of Birth: 5 Jun 1990

Age: 31

Gender: Male

Height (m/ft): 1.93/6'3''

Place of residence : LONDON

Residence Country:

Great Britain

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Rowing	Men's Four GBR Great Britain	4

Schedule

Change

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Sea Forest Waterway	Men's Four Heat 2 #46	Finished
	Sea Forest Waterway	Men's Four Final A #102	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Athlete:

World Championships

Year	Location	2-	4-	8+
2019	Linz, AUT	-	3	-
2018	Plovdiv, BUL	8	-	-
2017	Sarasota, FL, USA	-	-	7
2013	Chungju, KOR	7	-	-

World Championships Non-Olympic Events

Year	Location	2+
2016	Rotterdam, NED	1

European Championships

Year	Location	2-	4-
2021	Varese, ITA	-	1
2019	Lucerne, SUI	-	1
2018	Glasgow, GBR	7	-

World Cup

Rank	Event	Year	Location	Result
1	Four	2021	Lucerne, SUI	5:53.73
2	Four	2019	Rotterdam, NED	6:14.65
4	Four	2019	Poznan, POL	6:21.53
5	Pair	2018	Lucerne, SUI	6:42.77
5	Pair	2018	Linz, AUT	6:42.75
6	Eight	2017	Lucerne, SUI	5:34.68

Legend
DNF - Did Not Finish, DNS - Did Not Start, EXC - Excluded

Nickname:

Ollie (Twitter profile, 11 Apr 2021)

Hobbies:

Learning to speak Arabic. (britishrowing.org, 01 Jan 2019)

Occupation:

Athlete, Volunteer

Education:

History, International Relations - London School of Economics and Political Science, Great Britain

Languages spoken:

English

Club name:

University of London Boat Club [Great Britain]

Coach:

Robin Williams [national], GBR

Sporting relatives:

His younger brother Jamie Cook has represented Great Britain in rowing at U23 level. He and Oliver were part of the Oxford team that won the 2017 Boat Race in London, England. (britishrowing.org, 01 Jan 2019; worldrowing.com, 01 Jan 2014)

Injuries:

In April 2019 a cold aggravated his asthma, causing him to miss the coxed pair event at the British Rowing Final Trials in Caversham, England. He recovered in time to compete in the single sculls. (etonbridgepartners.com, 16 May 2019)

Start:

He took up the sport at age 12 at the Eton Excelsior Rowing Club [EERC] in Windsor, England. (etonbridgepartners.com, 19 Dec 2019)

Reason:

"My father, who stumbled across the club while out on a run, decided to take up the sport in his early 40s, and I think as a form of cheap babysitting, he used to take me with him. At the time there wasn't any junior rowing at the club, so dad set one up embarking on a bronze level coaching course, and I became the club's first junior rower at age 12. Initially there was only a handful of us, but the junior part of the club quickly grew." (etonbridgepartners.com, 09 Apr 2019)

Ambition:

To win a gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (etonbridgepartners.com, 01 Nov 2019)

Training:

He trains 13 days out of 14, with three sessions per day. (newburytoday.co.uk, 16 Apr 2021)

Hero:

US boxer Muhammad Ali. (etonbridgepartners.com, 19 Dec 2019)

Philosophy:

"Don't quit, suffer now and live the rest of your life a champion." [Muhammad Ali] (etonbridgepartners.com, 19 Dec 2019)

General Interest

General
RIO DISAPPOINTMENT
He was named as a non-travelling reserve for the Great Britain rowing team at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "Our head coach sat me down and told me that this was not going to be my Olympics. He told me it was a very close call, the testing had come down to less than one second, and that I was still needed as a spare in case any of the guys got ill or injured. On the one hand, if I'd told myself four years earlier that I would be so close to making the strongest rowing team in the world, I wouldn't have believed it. On the other hand, watching the guys get excited about going to the Olympic Games, seeing them get their Olympic kit and then watching them do so well on TV was to be honest, more than a little heart-breaking." (etonbridgepartners.com, 09 Apr 2019)

AFRICAN EXPEDITION
In 2011 he rowed 1000 kilometres of the upper Zambezi River in Zambia as part of the 'Row Zambezi Expedition'. Starting from the river's source near the Angolan border and heading to the Victoria Falls, the trip raised over 25,000 GBP for the charity Village Water. (LinkedIn profile, 27 Apr 2021; britishrowing.org, 01 Jan 2019)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
In November 2020 he began volunteering with The True Athlete Project, through which athletes provide mentoring for other athletes. (LinkedIn profile, 27 Apr 2021)

FURTHER EDUCATION
In 2017 he graduated with a master's degree in history from the University of Oxford in England. He has also studied for a postgraduate diploma in international development at East Berkshire College in Windsor, England. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Sep 2019; britishrowing.org, 01 Jan 2019)

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

Timing and scoring provided by OMEGA. Results powered by Atos