Student brings home medal from world rowing champs

Edward O'Daly

Ms Cook won her place in the eight after setting a new world best in women's four

17 October 2006: A University of Canberra human biology student has returned from the rowing world championships in the UK with a bronze medal.

Sarah Cook has her sights set firmly on the Beijing Olympics after rowing in the Australian women's eight crew in the competition at Eton.

Ms Cook has not had an easy run between being picked out as a potential rowing star in the ACT Academy of Sport's talent identification program six years ago and taking her place on the podium at last month's competition.

After battling illness (glandular fever) and injury (tendonitis and a broken rib), she won a seat with the eight in a highly-competitive process that's seen four new rowers join the team in the last 12 months - and she's determined to keep it.

"I was pretty pleased to be on the podium at Eton and hopefully I'll keep my place and go for a medal at the Olympics," she said.

It's hard to imagine that six years ago, Ms Cook had only rowed once and never taken it seriously until her potential for the sport was identified.

"i'd never really settled on a sport, but I was thrown into an elite program from day one. I love rowing now," she said.

Since the return from training and competition in Europe, Ms Cook has a two week break before the serious business of training begins again - with 180km bike rides a gruelling new addition to the regime.

"I haven't done them before, so I'm not sure what to expect, but they're going to be hard work," she said.

With only one day off training a week and training lasting between four and ten hours a day, Ms Cook admits it's been a struggle to keep up with her studies - particularly when overseas competition and training saw her miss the first 10 weeks of this semester.

"The University's been great," she said.

"There are a lot of athletes here, so it's not uncommon to have students in my situation, and the University is flexible about when I do my assessments and exams.

"I'm not going to make a whole lot of money out of rowing so it's good to have qualifications to fall back on - plus if all I did was row, I'd go stir crazy."