The 21-year-old from Dorchester, who is due tomorrow to officially become the new world number one in his weight category after retaining his European under-80 kilograms title in Manchester earlier this month, had appealed after being overlooked for Lutalo Muhammad, who would have to drop down a division to compete in the Olympics.

Muhammad's selection was rejected unanimously by the BOA's Olympic Qualification Standards (OQS) Panel comprising chief executive and Chef de Mission Andy Hunt, his deputies Mark England and Sir Clive Woodward, and Sarah Winckless, chairman of the BOA Athletes Commission, who met today with officials from Sport Taekwondo UK (STUK).

STUK must now reconvene their selection panel to decide whether to select Cook or stick with Muhammad and try to justify their decision to the BOA.

The suspicion is that Cook has been overlooked because last year he opted out of the national governing body's high-performance programme to train on his own.

STUK, however, claim that the perceived changes to the rules surrounding headshots favoured meant Muhammad was more likely to win a gold medal at London than Cook.

Cook was beaten by Muhammad (pictured below left) when the 20-year-old claimed German Open silver in March but had his revenge in the Dutch Open, one of nine tour titles he has attained in the last year.


Muhammad won the under-87 kilograms European title in Manchester but is ranked only 93rd in the under-80 category.

"On the basis of the process that was followed by STUK in arriving at its nomination for the men's under-80 kg weight category, it was the unanimous decision of the OQS Panel that it could not ratify the nomination," the BOA said in a statement.

"The OQS panel has written to STUK and requested that it reconvene its selection committee at the earliest opportunity and consider the following in bringing forward a nomination for the men's under-80 kg weight category:

• 1) The clear guidance that was provided by an earlier Appeal Panel that directed all criteria should be weighed fairly and not disproportionately by the Selection Committee in evaluating athletes; in particular, a disproportionate amount of emphasis should not be given to the so-called 'head shot rule' in international taekwondo, which is subject to different interpretation, or any other factor

• 2) Both athletes should receive equal and in-person representation before the Selection Committee, preferably by their personal coach

• 3) All members of the Selection Committee who have a right to vote are in fact encouraged to do so as part of the nomination process

• 4) The BOA wishes to have an independent observer attend the Selection Committee Meeting."

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Matthew Pinsent is among those who have thrown their support behind Cook, who competed for Britain at Beijing in 2008 when he was only 17 and suffered a controversial defeat.

He said this week on Twitter that Cook had fallen victim to "small-time sport politics".

Cook, meanwhile, thanked the BOA on his own Twitter account.

He later added: "Thanks also to all the public, fellow athletes and legends for your support. If given the chance, I will make GB proud."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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