Kathy Smallwood-Cook

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This article is about the athlete. For the Canadian magazine writer, see Kathy Cook (journalist).
Kathy Smallwood-Cook
MBE
Personal information
Birth nameKathyrn Jane Smallwood
NationalityBritish
Born (1960-05-03) 3 May 1960 (age 64)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1980 Moscow 4×100 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 1984 Los Angeles 400 m
Bronze medal – third place 1984 Los Angeles 4×100 m relay
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1983 Helsinki 4×100 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 1983 Helsinki 200 m
European Championships
Silver medal – second place
1978 Prague
 4×100 m relay
Silver medal – second place
1982 Athens
 200 m
Silver medal – second place
1982 Athens
 4×100 m relay
World Cup
Silver medal – second place 1981 Rome 100 m
World Student Games (Universiade)
Gold medal – first place 1981 Bucharest 200 m
Silver medal – second place 1979 Mexico City 100 m
Silver medal – second place 1979 Mexico City 200 m
Silver medal – second place 1979 Mexico City 4×100 m relay
Silver medal – second place 1981 Bucharest 4×100 m relay
Commonwealth Games
Representing  England
Gold medal – first place 1978 Edmonton 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 1982 Brisbane 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 1986 Edinburgh 4×100 m relay
Silver medal – second place 1982 Brisbane 200 m
Silver medal – second place 1986 Edinburgh 200 m
Silver medal – second place 1986 Edinburgh 4×400 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 1986 Edinburgh 400 m

Kathryn Jane Cook MBE (née Smallwood; born 3 May 1960) is a former elite athlete, specialising in sprint and sprint relays. She is one of the most successful female sprinters in British athletics history. She is three-times an Olympic bronze medallist, including at 400 metres in Los Angeles 1984. Her other individual achievements include winning the 200m at the 1981 Universiade, finishing second in the 100m at the 1981 World Cup, and winning a bronze medal in the 200m at the 1983 World Championships. She is also three-times a winner of the British Athletics Writers' Association Female Athlete of the Year Award (1980–82).

Cook held the UK National records for 100m, 200m and 400m for over 25 years. Her 100m best of 11.10secs, stood as the UK record from 1981 to 2008. Her 200m best of 22.10 secs, stood as the UK record from 1984 to 2015. She had first broken the 200m record in 1979. Her 400m best of 49.43, stood as the UK record from 1984 to 2013. She had first broken the 400m record in 1982. In the sprint relay, along with

Bev Goddard and Sonia Lannaman
, she set the UK record with 42.43 at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which stood as the UK record until 2014. She is also a former holder of the World Best for 300m, running 35.46 in 1984.

Career

Cook was born Kathy Smallwood in

the Hurst Community School, Baughurst and later Queen Marys Sixth form college (QMC), Basingstoke. She was a member of the Reading Athletic Club and later the Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club
. She was coached throughout her career by Jim Spooner. She also spent time working at the Tadley branch of Lloyds Bank.

Her first major competition was the 1977

Marlies Gohr in 11.27, while in the 200 metres she was second to another East German great, Marita Koch
, in a PB of 22.70. She also won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay.

Smallwood competed at her first

Heather Hunte, who had also reached the 100 m final and Beverley Goddard and Sonia Lannaman, who had both also reached the 200 m final, to win the bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay, in a UK record time of 42.43. A record that stood until 2014. Only one week after the Olympics, she broke the UK record for the 200 metres, with 22.31 in London.[2]

Smallwood won her biggest individual title in 1981, winning the 200 metres at the

Jarmila Kratochvilova, running 51.08.[3]

In August 1982, at the

Florence Griffith.[4]

In 1984, probably Cook's finest season, she won a further two bronze medals at the Los Angeles Olympics. In the 400 metres, she smashed the UK and Commonwealth record with 49.43 secs, behind the American pair of Valerie Brisco-Hooks and Chandra Cheeseborough. This would remain the UK record for almost 30 years, until Christine Ohuruogu ran 49.41 to win at the 2013 World Championships. Cook then narrowly missed winning a medal in the 200 metres final, where she improved her own national record to 22.10. With a strong late surge, she closed rapidly on Florence Griffith and Merlene Ottey-Page, who won silver and bronze in 22.04 and 22.09 respectively. The race was won by 400m champion, Valerie Brisco-Hooks. Cook's 22.10, stood as the UK record for over 30 years, until Dina Asher-Smith ran 22.07 for fifth at the 2015 World Championships.[5] In the sprint relay, drawn in lane one, she collected another bronze medal, along with Simmone Jacobs and two of her Moscow teammates, Bev Callender (Goddard) and Heather Oakes (Hunte). They ran 43.11[6] At the end of the 1984 season, Cook ranked 10th on the world all-time lists for both the 200m and 400m and would remain in the all-time top ten until 1986 (200) and 1988 (400).

Shortly after the Los Angeles Olympics, Cook won in London over 300 metres, edging out Chandra Cheeseborough. Both were given the time of 35.46 secs, which broke the world best for the rarely contested distance.[7] The mark would remain a world outdoor best until 2003, when Ana Guevara ran 35.30, although it is worth noting that Marita Koch ran a sub 35 sec 300 m split, on her way to her 47.60 world 400 m record in 1985.[8] 1984 would prove to be the peak of Cook's career.

In 1985, her 200 metres season's best was 22.87 for fifth in the European Cup, while in 1986, she failed to run below 23 seconds. She did still manage to win four medals at that years

Angella Issajenko, gold in the 4 × 100 m relay, with Paula Dunn, Joan Baptiste and Heather Oakes and ended the games with a silver medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay, with Jane Parry, Linda Keough and Angela Piggford
.

The Great Britain and England Women's 4 × 100 m relay teams won a medal at eight consecutive Olympic (1980, 1984), World (1983), European (1978, 1982), and Commonwealth Championships (1978, 1982, 1986). Cook was the only woman to be a member of every squad. The run ended at the 1986 Europeans, when the British quartet (again, including Cook) was fifth. She always ran the second 'leg', her rangy gait (she is 5'11' tall) and speed endurance being ideal for this position. She also occasionally competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay. She won a total of sixteen senior national titles during her career.

In the

Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to athletics.[9]

Cook remains the only British athlete (male or female) to have reached Olympic finals at 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres.[10] Her accomplishments are all the more significant because many of her rivals after the fall of the "Iron Curtain" were found to have been performing illegally. She retired in 1987, after competing at the UK Championships.

Later career

Cook is currently a

Mayfield Preparatory School, in Walsall, England. Married since 1982 to Garry Cook, they have three children, a daughter and two sons.[11]

In 2011, she was inducted into the

Honorary Doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton in 2013.[13]

Personal bests

  • 100 metres – 11.10 secs Rome 5 September 1981 (Former UK record 1981–2008) ran a wind-assisted 11.08 (25 August 1984 Zurich)
  • 200 metres – 22.10 Los Angeles 9 August 1984 (UK record Aug 1984- Aug 2015)
  • 300 metres – 35.46 London (Crystal Palace) 18 August 1984 (UK record, former World Best 1984–2003)
  • 400 metres – 49.43 Los Angeles 6 August 1984 (Former UK record 1984–2013)
  • 4 × 100 metres relay – 42.43 Moscow 1 August 1980 (Former UK record 1980–2014, with Heather Hunte, Beverley Goddard and Sonia Lannaman)

National titles

  • 11 AAAs National titles:
    • 4 Times 100 m Champion 1978, 80, 83, 84 ( 2nd in 79, 85 )
    • 6 Times 200 m Champion 1978, 79, 80, 82, 84, 85
    • 400 m Champion 1986
  • 5 UK National titles:
    • 100 m Champion 1983 ( 3rd in 79, 80 )
    • 4 Times 200 m Champion 1980, 83, 85, 86 ( 2nd in 79, 3rd in 77, 78 )

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  England
1978 Commonwealth Games Edmonton, Canada 5th 200 m 22.96
1st 4 × 100 m 43.70
1982 Commonwealth Games
Brisbane, Australia
 2nd 200 m 22.21w
1st 4 × 100 m 43.15
4th 4 × 400 m 3:35.35
1986 Commonwealth Games Edinburgh, Scotland 2nd 200 m 23.18
3rd 400 m 51.88
1st 4 × 100 m 43.39
2nd 4 × 400 m 3:32.82
Representing  Great Britain
1977
European Junior Championships
Donetsk, Ukraine
 3rd 100 m 11.71
3rd 200 m 23.53
3rd 4 × 100 m 44.71
1978 European Championships
Prague, Czech Republic
 9th (sf) 200 m 23.12
2nd 4 × 100 m 42.72
1979 European Cup
Turin, Italy
 4th 200 m 22.84
3rd 4 × 100 m 43.18
World Student Games
Mexico City, Mexico
 2nd 100 m 11.27
2nd 200 m 22.70
2nd 4 × 100 m 43.26
1980 Olympic Games
Moscow, Russia
 6th 100m 11.28
5th 200 m 22.61
3rd 4 × 100 m 42.43
1981 World Student Games
Bucharest, Romania
 1st 200 m 22.78
2nd 4 × 100 m 43.86
European Cup
Zagreb, Yugoslavia
 2nd 100 m 11.27
2nd 200 m 22.65
2nd 4 × 100 m 43.03
World Cup
Rome, Italy
 2nd 100 m 11.10
DNF 4 × 100 m —
1982 European Championships
Athens, Greece
 2nd 200 m 22.13
2nd 4 × 100 m 42.66
5th 4 × 400 m 3:25.82
1983 World Championships Finland Helsinki 3rd 200 m 22.37 (wind 1.5)
2nd 4 × 100 m 42.71
European Cup London, England 3rd 200 m 22.57
2nd 4 × 100 m 43.18
5th 4 × 400 m 3:27.29
1984 Olympic Games
Los Angeles, United States
 4th 200 m 22.10
3rd 400 m 49.43
3rd 4 × 100 m 43.11
1985 European Cup
Moscow, Soviet Union
 5th 200 m 22.87
7th 4 × 400 m 3:32.23
1986 European Championships Stuttgart, Germany 10th (sf) 200 m 23.20
5th 4 × 100 m 43.44
Results with (sf) indicate overall position in semifinal round
  • At the 1981 World Cup, Smallwood-Cook was representing Europe.
  • The 1983 European Cup was held one week after the World Championships.

References

  1. ^ [1][dead link]
  2. ^ [2][dead link]
  3. ^ [3][dead link]
  4. ^ "Results - iaaf.org". Iaaf.org. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Ranking List". Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  6. ^ "ATHLETICS OLYMPIC GAMES LOS ANGELOS 1984". Todor66.com. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  7. ^ "Women's 300m". Alltime-athletics.com. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  8. ^ [4] [dead link]
  9. ^ UK list: "No. 50361". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1985. p. 12.
  10. ^ "Athletics". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Kathy Cook interview | NEONTIGer's HISTORICAL ATHLETICS & QUIZ FORUM". Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  12. ^ "Hall of Fame 2011 inductees - England Athletics". Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  13. ^ "WLV Life Issue 06". University of Wolverhampton. 29 January 2014. p. 7. Retrieved 1 September 2022.

External links

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