It was one of the most remarkable images of the Tokyo Olympics, at least from a UK perspective: Bianca Cook – or Walkden as she was then known – absolutely bawling her eyes out in the Makuhari Messe Hall after the shocking defeat in the first round. Tae-kwon-do. It wasn’t even his defeat. Cook was reacting to her housemate and best friend Jade Jones’ surprise reveal at the hands of former Iranian athlete Kimia Alizadeh, who was competing under the white flag of the refugee team.
Jones’ loss heralded an unfortunate Games for these two pioneers of British Taekwondo, who had dominated their respective weight categories for much of the decade leading up to Tokyo.
Jones, who won gold medals in London and Rio, was vying to become the first taekwondo fighter to win three titles on the biggest stage.
Cook, meanwhile, has already suffered Olympic heartache once when he narrowly missed out on making it to the gold medal match at Rio 2016. Tokyo would be even more painful with a last-gasp defeat by South Korean Lee Da-bin in the +67kg semi-finals. final.
Although she went on to claim a second bronze medal to go along with her first from Rio, she was inconsolable afterwards and admitted feeling “dead inside”.
“Obviously I sit back now and see I have two Olympic bronze medals,” Cook says of the surreal Tokyo Games, played in near-empty arenas amid Covid chaos. “This is still an achievement. I can see this. But I’ve always been clear about my goals. I’m in this to win it. My life is all or nothing. And I was in Tokyo for the gold medal…”
Luckily, he has another chance to realize his dream. Paris 2024 looms large on the horizon and Cook’s desire to be third time lucky next year goes without saying.
This time he knows he’s in the last chance hall. The 32-year-old Liverpudlian, who married her long-term partner, British-born Moldovan taekwondo fighter Aaron Cook, last year, jokes that she is “recovering”.
“His body is starting to break down a little bit,” he says with a laugh. “I still have the ability to be where I need to be for the Olympics. But I’ve had a really tough last six months. I had really bad knee problems and I ended up having surgery. I’ve just come back now. But I’m going to give it everything I’ve got. After one last dance, I’ll take you to Paris.” “You’ll see me win the gold medal in . “
If it could it would be a story. Cook had already had two ACL reconstructions before Tokyo. She also suffered endless vicarious trauma when her then-boyfriend, Aaron, embarked on a long and ultimately unsuccessful quest for Olympic glory; That journey began to go off track when he was controversially left out of the Great Britain team in 2012. Even though he was world number 1 in the -80 kg category at the London Olympics. He went on to represent the Isle of Man and then Moldova as he desperately searched for victory. But it’s all in vain.
“He’s retired now,” says Cook. “He’s actually the national coach of Saudi Arabia, so he travels back and forth to Riyadh a lot, which gives me the chance to get back to Jade!”
‘This is my last dance. Me and my everything. And I will give him my soul’
Cook only moved out of Jones’ home and joined her husband after they married in Italy last year; It was a “magical day” with around half of the GB team attending.
Then she sent me a photo of herself in her wedding dress, challenging her new husband. But he assures that he and Jones, who is two years his junior but is also the man for whom Paris is the last chance to achieve victory, are still “getting together”.
“Oh, definitely. Aaron and I are only 10 minutes down the road, so I’m still around Jade the whole time! He can’t get rid of me. I think I slept at Jade for about two weeks while Aaron was away recently. So we’re still always there for each other. And we always will be. We’re not just teammates. We are a family now. She was one of my bridesmaids.
“When we are not together (for example, he is currently training in Croatia) I miss him every day. “But we’re still on the phone all the time, talking about training, pushing each other one last time to make sure we have a better race and seeing if we can both win gold.”
Their combined influence on Great British Taekwondo cannot be ignored. Para-fighter Beth Munro, who won silver in Tokyo and will also go for gold in Paris next year, says both Cook and Jones were generous with their time and information.
“As a fellow Liverpudlian, I get on really well with Bianca,” says Munro, 30, who was born without part of her left arm and was scouted by Disability Sports Wales in her late twenties and grew up playing skillfully. fitness body with her twin sister Faye. “He is a very nice person and helps all the young players. When he’s on the pads, you can see how passionate he is about this business and how he imparts his knowledge.
“Actually, I think we are in a very good position as a team. We now have young people who are sweeping us off their feet. When the big names move on, I believe they can reach the same heights.”
How high will these heights ultimately be? We’re about to find out. Cook is close to returning from surgery at this year’s World Taekwondo Grand Prix Final, which takes place at his “home” in Manchester early next month. For once he doesn’t put too much pressure on himself.
“I’m going to be a little rusty, to be honest,” he says. “Obviously the ultimate goal is Paris and as long as I’m 100 percent on Paris, that’s the main goal. But that doesn’t mean I can’t go out there and give it everything I’ve got and do the job. I’m looking forward to being part of the best of the best again.”
After that, head down and flashers on. Paris is waiting. Even the honeymoon had to be postponed until serious business was out of the way. “We haven’t planned anything, but I would love to go on safari,” says Cook. “This is on my bucket list. But it is quite expensive. If any holiday agency would like to sponsor me, get in touch! But yeah, that can wait.
“This is my last dance. It’s mine and my everything. And I’m going to give it my soul. I want to end it where I want to be: on the top step. Like I said before, I’m an all-or-nothing type of person so I’m going to give it my all. I hope this last dance dream comes true.” “It’s a fairy tale I created.”