Australian Natalie Cook up for Olympic Qualification – Beach Volleyball update
Natalie Louise Cook, a professional beach volleyball player from Australia, is eyeing her fifth appearance at the upcoming Summer Olympics in London.
The 36-year old Cook has a long career in beach volleyball and she earned a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and also climbed up to the top position at Sydney Olympics in 2000. Likewise, she also settled for bronze at the World Championship in 2003.
Kerri Pottharst was her first team-mate and together they achieved several honours.
Later on, she teamed up with Tamsin Hinchley and they played at the 2008 Beijing Olympics together. Recently, Cook experimented with a new partner, Tara West. They appeared on the court together in January and competed at the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch
World Tour events in China and Europe over the past few weeks.
West was originally an Australian indoor volleyball player and she also headed the Women’s National Team of Australia. She joined Cook this year after suspending her university studies in Perth. She underwent extensive training with Cook and entered the
2011 Beijing Grand Slam, which continued from June 6-11. The Aussie duo couldn’t advance to the Main Draw and earned disqualification at the Qualification Tournament.
Furthermore the team failed to catch any limelight at the next SWATCH FIVB World Tour event of 1 to 1 Energy Grand Slam in Switzerland. They were defeated at the qualification stage and were edged out. After constant failure with her new partner, Cook decided
to reunite with her old partner, Tamsin Hinchley. Since the Olympic qualification is very close, Cook cannot afford to suffer more damage.
The head coach of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and national beach volleyball program, Steve Tutton, supports the idea that Cook should change the partner for the sake of earning Olympic Qualification. He travelled with the Aussie pair to Moscow
Grand Slam this month. At the end of their tour, he expressed his views about Cook and Hinchey’s reunion. He stated: "They have some experience together as a team and, this time around, their preparation has been a lot better in terms of being ready to compete
at the world level again. They've had a good 18 months now under their belt getting ready to compete. I'm expecting that they will have some pretty strong performances. If they post some top four or five results in the events they compete in from now, I think
they'll qualify in their own right."
If Natalie Cook will be able to play at the 2012 London Olympic Games, she would make the only female player in Australian Beach Volleyball History to have played in five Olympic competitions.
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