Carol Cooke

Carol Cooke
	Carol Cooke (2016)
To person
Nickname	Caz
Date of birth	August 6, 1961
nation	Australia
discipline	Street (T2)
Societies)
	Caulfield Carnegie
	Last updated: April 27, 2020

Carol Cooke , AM , (born August 6, 1961 in Toronto , Canada ) is an Australian disabled athlete .

biography

Private and professional

Carol Cooke was born in Toronto, where she grew up. She was very enthusiastic about sports and initially wanted to be a gymnast as a girl , but was not accepted at the sports high school. She turned to swimming , became a member of the Canadian national swimming team and aimed to start at the Olympic Games in Moscow , which were then boycotted by Canada. She gave up competitive sports and, following a family tradition, became a police officer in her hometown. As such, she worked for 14 years running in an undercover Department for Drug Control .

In 1994 Cooke followed her future Australian husband to Melbourne . There she competed in swimming competitions as a hobby, such as the 1998 Australian Masters Championships in Hobart . Shortly thereafter, she suffered from dizziness and blurred vision, and was diagnosed with the chronic disease multiple sclerosis . The doctors told her, "Go home and get your business sorted out before you get immobile," Cooke writes on her website. For some time she sat in a wheelchair , but inwardly refused to let the illness rule her life.

Parasport career

Carol Cooke began para rowing in 2006 after receiving a letter from the Victorian Institute for Sport . The following year she received a scholarship from the institute. In 2008 and 2009 she was a member of the Australian national team and finished sixth at the World Rowing Championships. After narrowly missing out on qualifying for the 2008 Summer Paralympics , she switched to cycling.

In 2011 Cooke started paracycling on the tricycle (category T2). At the 2012 Summer Paralympics , she won the gold medal in the individual time trial , a mixed competition, ahead of the German Hans-Peter Durst . By 2016, she was Australian champion in individual time trials and road races six times and world champion seven times. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics , she won the gold medal in both road disciplines, as well as at the road world championships the following year. In 2018 she won gold in the time trial and silver in the road race, and the following year she again won both titles on the road.