Taekwondo’s lone ranger

After causing ructions by withdrawing from the GB training academy earlier this year, taekwondo player Aaron Cook is on a mission to prove he made the right move...

From the depths of despair...
“It really all came to a head after the World Championships in May, when I lost in the first round – a massive disappointment. Looking back now, I wasn’t happy with the competitions and training I’d done leading up to the worlds. I had a lot of pressure on my shoulders and it all just came crumbling down. So we sat down as a team afterwards and discussed what had gone wrong.

"The answer was to follow our own path, with me being in control of who I’m training with, where I’m training and what competitions I’m doing. And it’s paying off. Losing in the first round at the worlds is probably one of the lowest points of my life, but it’s made me more determined to prove I’m still one of the best in the world.”

Down at the bottom of the garden
“After the Beijing Games, my dad built a gym in the back garden so I could do some extra training – and thank God he did, because now I’ve left that’s where I do my taekwondo training. I’m pretty lucky; it’s not much of a commute, I just walk out the back door. It’s so different to the national academy, where there were 12 or 13 people all getting the same attention from three coaches.

"Now all the training is 100 per cent for me, and I’ve got my own strength and conditioning coach working with me one on one. I’m learning faster because of that, I think.”

Money’s too tight
“The most difficult thing about leaving the national academy has been the loss of funding. I was European champion so I was getting about £20,000 per year just for me, which was like my wages. Then I also got an Athlete Personal Award, which was about £70,000 – that was to cover competition and training expenses.

"So we lost quite a big chunk of funding altogether – but I’ve got some great sponsors, which means I can still go on training camps around the world and spar with some of the best people out there.”

Olympic dreams
“There was a lot of stress around the British Open last month, as it was my first competition on British soil since I left the academy. I wanted to prove that I’d made the right move, and thankfully I fought really well and won it, beating a British fighter in the final by 12 points.