Stephanie Jayne Cook, MBE (born 7 February 1972) is a British retired modern pentathlete. She was the Olympic champion at this event in 2000. Cook was born in Irvine,

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire (, ) is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and s ...

, Scotland. She was educated at Bedford High School; The Perse School for Girls;

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

and then

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

, 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 A varsity match in Britain and Ireland is a fixture, especially of a sporting event or team, between university teams, usually the highest-level team, or varsity team, in that sport. The University Match in cricket between Oxford University an ...

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. She paid him tribute in 2002 during the TV programme '' This is Your Life''. Cook won the gold medal in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

2000 Olympics in the women's

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Summer Olympics, Olympic multisport that consists of five events: fencing (one-touch épée followed by direct elimination), freestyle swimming, obstacle course racing, Laser pistol (sport), laser pistol shooting, and ...

, 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.

Honours

In the 2001 New Year Honours, Cook was appointed as a member of the

Order of The British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for services to modern pentathlon. In 2008, she was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Medicine) from the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

References

External links

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