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Aaron Cook (taekwondo)

Aaron Cook
Medal record
Men's taekwondo
Representing  Great Britain
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2010 Saint Petersburg 80 kg
Gold medal – first place 2012 Manchester 80 kg
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2008 Izmir 78 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Ho Chi Minh City 68 kg
European Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2007 Baku 73 kg
Representing  Isle of Man
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2014 Baku 80 kg
Representing  Moldova
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Chelyabinsk 80 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Muju 80 kg
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Montreux 80 kg
Grand Prix
Silver medal – second place 2017 Moscow 80 kg

Aaron Arthur Cook (born 2 January 1991) is a British-born Moldovan taekwondo athlete, who has been ranked the number one in the men's −80 kg division on several occasions. He is a three-time European champion having won the −80 kg title at the European Taekwondo Championships in 2010, 2012 representing Great Britain and 2014 representing the Isle of Man, and was the world junior champion in the −78 kg division in 2008.

He represented Great Britain in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where he reached the semi-final and was narrowly defeated in the bronze medal match. He was controversially left out of the British team for the 2012 Olympic Games in London despite being the world no. 1-ranked competitor in the −80 kg division when the British Taekwondo Control Board selected Lutalo Muhammad (who was ranked world no. 59 in −80 kg and world no. 7 in −87 kg). Following this, Cook indicated he could no longer work with the governing authorities in Great Britain, and switched allegiance to the Isle of Man. This move to a non-Olympic nation ostensibly allowed Cook to achieve qualification for the 2016 Summer Olympics for Great Britain, the country for which Isle of Man athletes participate at the Olympics.

He represented the Isle of Man in international tournaments from February 2013 until 2015 when following further discussions with the Great Britain authorities, Cook sought and obtained Moldovan citizenship and announced that he would compete for Moldova. At the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships, Cook represented his new country for the first time, losing to former Great Britain team-mate Damon Samsum in the semi-final. Despite this, Cook won the bronze medal in his weight category, his first medal in a World Championship.

He was born in Dorchester, Dorset.


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Wikipedia

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