Garry Cook

For the chief executive of Manchester City FC, see Garry Cook (CEO).

Garry Peter Cook (born 10 January 1958) is a former British track and field athlete, who competed mainly in the 800 metres with a best time of 1:44.55 minutes. He competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Garry Cook

Personal information
Nationality	British (English)
Born	10 January 1958 Wednesbury, England
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	72 kg (159 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	400m
Club	WBAC
Medal record Men's Athletics Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles 4x400 m relay World Championships 1983 Helsinki 4x400 m relay Representing  England Commonwealth Games 1978 Edmonton 4 x 400 relay

Biography

Cook represented England in the 800 metres event, at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada.^[2] Cook finished third behind Steve Scott and John Walker in the 800 metres event at the 1979 AAA Championships^[3] but by virtue of being the highest placed British athlete was considered the British 800 metres champion^[4]

The same happened at the 1981 AAA Championships over 400 metres when Cook was third behind Americans Tony Darden and Walter McCoy.^[4] The following year he represented England^[5] and won a gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay, at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia; he also competed in the 800 metres event.^[6][7]

Cook was a world record holder in the rarely run 4×800 m relay as a part of a quartet that also contained Peter Elliott, Steve Cram and Sebastian Coe. They ran a time of 7 minutes 3.89 seconds on 30 August 1982 at Crystal Palace.

He competed for Great Britain in the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles, in the 4 x 400 metre relay, where he won the silver medal with his teammates Kriss Akabusi, Todd Bennett and Philip Brown.^[8]

After a successful athletics career, Cook qualified and practiced as a teacher specialising in Physical Education and Geography at Bluecoat school Walsall. He is married to former fellow Olympian Kathy Cook; they have three children, Sarah (1988), Matthew (1989) and George (1992) and reside in Walsall, England.