Steph Cook

{{short description|British modern pentathlete}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Steph Cook <br /> <small>MBE</small> | image = | fullname = Stephanie Jayne Cook | birth_date = {{birth-date and age|7 February 1972}} | birth_place = Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland | alma_mater = Lincoln College, Oxford | nationality = British | caption = | headercolor = lightsteelblue | show-medals = yes | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Women's modern pentathlon }} {{MedalCountry | {{GBR2}} }} {{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }} {{MedalGold | 2000 Sydney | Individual }} }}

'''Stephanie Jayne Cook''', MBE (born 7 February 1972)<ref name=sportsreference>{{cite Sports-Reference |title=Steph Cook |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/co/steph-cook-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418025449/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/co/steph-cook-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |accessdate=24 January 2010}}</ref> is a British retired modern pentathlete. She was the Olympic champion at this event in 2000.

Cook was born in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland.<ref name=sportsreference /> 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 in 1995–1996, and won the women's individual title in the Varsity match against Cambridge in 1997.

Although 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 three papers with him.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The 'morbidity and mortality' meeting--no longer defensible as surgical audit. |date=May 2000 |journal= Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England|vauthors=Whiteley MS, Cook SJ |pmid=10889783 |volume=82 |issue=5 Suppl |pages=168}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Patient outcome alone does not justify the centralisation of vascular services. |vauthors=Cook SJ, Rocker MD, Jarvis MR, Whiteley MS |date=July 2000 |journal= Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England|pmc=2503500 |pmid=10932662 |volume=82 |issue = 4|pages=268–71}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1053/ejvs.2001.1347|title=Incompetent Perforating Veins are Associated with Recurrent Varicose Veins|year=2001|vauthors=Rutherford EE, Kianifard B, Cook SJ, Holdstock JM, Whiteley MS|journal=European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery|volume=21|issue=5|pages=458–460|pmid=11352523|doi-access=free}}</ref> She paid him tribute in 2002 during the TV programme ''This is Your Life''.<ref>{{cite web|author=BBC TV|date=Feb 2002|title=This is Your Life – Stephanie Cook – BBC TV 2002|url=http://www.tv.com/shows/this-is-your-life-uk/doctor-stephanie-cook-mbe-788953/|url-status=dead|accessdate=7 September 2014|archive-date=25 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825174209/http://www.tv.com/shows/this-is-your-life-uk/doctor-stephanie-cook-mbe-788953/}}</ref>

Cook won the gold medal in the Sydney 2000 Olympics in the women's modern pentathlon,<ref name="sportsreference" /> 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.<ref name="sportsreference" />

== Honours == In the 2001 New Year Honours, Cook was appointed as a member of the Order of The British Empire for services to modern pentathlon.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=56070 |date=30 December 2000 |page=15 |supp=1}}</ref> In 2008, she was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Medicine) from the University of Bath.<ref>{{cite web|title=Honorary graduate – Dr Stephanie Cook|url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2008/6/27/cookoration.html|publisher=University of Bath|date=27 June 2008|accessdate=17 August 2016}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{UIPM |name=Stephanie Cook |archive=20161024215903}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Steph}} Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from Irvine, North Ayrshire Category:Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Category:Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Category:Anglo-Scots Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:British female modern pentathletes Category:Olympic modern pentathletes for Great Britain Category:Modern pentathletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Category:Olympic medalists in modern pentathlon Category:People educated at Bedford High School, Bedfordshire Category:People educated at the Perse School for Girls Category:Scottish Olympic competitors Category:Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Team Bath pentathletes