From Pilton to the podium: fencer Keith Cook has eye on an Olympic medal

KEITH Cook was never one to conform to stereotypes. Growing up in Pilton, one of Edinburgh’s least affluent areas, he was expected to stick to football and boxing like everyone else. He took up fencing.

Having been recognised as dyslexic at primary school, he was expected by some to flee the education system as soon as he could. He stayed on until sixth year, went on to take an HND, and now spends much of his week as a fencing coach, with his places of work including his old school, Broughton High.

And Cook is not just any old fencer either. At the weekend, he became Scottish foil champion for the seventh time. The British champion in 2010, he was runner-up last year, and is in the running to be a member of the home nation’s four-man foil team at the London Olympics, where he fully expects to win a medal.

“I’m always positive, and I will be winning a medal at the Olympics,” he says. “This is the strongest British fencing has ever been, and men’s foil is our strongest weapon. We’re the ones who will be bringing back the silverware.”

Now 30, Cook spent several years on the Great Britain team’s Olympic funding programme, which entailed spending half his week in London. His withdrawal from the programme in order to spend more time looking after his family has led to a reduction in the number of tournaments he has been entered for, but he has still easily done well enough to claim the place in the country’s top four which should lead to Olympic selection.

“I’m fourth place by miles and with four competitions left it’s looking very good. It’s not all down to ranking points, but having been British champion in 2010 and runner-up last year, I should be in a strong position to prove myself.

“I’m the only Briton to have knocked out four of the top 16 in the world. Training is going really well. I’m the fittest I’ve ever been. I’ve got no injuries. I’m training hard and I’m getting the results as well. I feel I am one of the best in Britain and I should be going to the Olympics.”

It will be the end of March before Cook learns for sure if the path on which he embarked almost two decades ago will take him to London. But, whether he ends up on the Olympic podium or not, it is a path he has long since realised was the making of him.

“I was 11, just going into secondary, and I was doing football and boxing, things like that,” he recalls of the time he discovered fencing. “Then I went to the house of a friend of a friend and he had this sword, and I was like: ‘Aw, cool, look at that.’

“He said he did fencing. He went to [Edinburgh private school] Stewart’s-Melville. He said: ‘I’ve got a competition next week if you fancy coming along and seeing what it’s about.’

“So his mum and dad took me to the competition. And I was spellbound. I didn’t like school at all, because of not being good at reading, writing or maths. I would rather just kick a football around. In English I was very defensive and got thrown out of class a lot, just because I was insecure with myself.

“But, through fencing, I stayed on until sixth year. There were two different personalities for me then. Fencing I was very positive and cocky really – I could express myself in different ways and it didn’t matter if I couldn’t read or write properly.

“They could tell straight away at school that I was dyslexic. I wasn’t good at reading, writing or spelling. It was a hard time at school, especially from my background when you can’t be seen to have a weakness at all.

“That was why I was always leaving the class and saying: ‘I can’t be bothered with this.’

“But I learned through fencing to channel my energies in different ways instead of just losing the rag.

“It has helped a lot. I’m still not the best speller, but I can read fine now. If I have any problems I just ask my wife. I don’t find it that bad – I’m quite open about it and I’m not ashamed.”

Cook is based at Holyrood High School in Edinburgh now, but also tours the country with the Active Schools Network, giving as many kids as possible a taste of the sport which has made such a difference to his own life. In primaries one to three they use foam swords, then it’s plastic, then finally on to metal. But whatever the materials used, the emphasis is always on enjoyment.

“Fencing is very accessible now. You don’t have to come from a certain background. All schools are keen on getting it in.

“I teach fencing at my old school, and we’re also doing it in schools in Shetland. In one week up there we coached 400 kids. I tell them when they go back home to fence with their mum and dad. I used to fence my gran with a roll of paper sellotaped round. It’s just having fun with it.”

And Cook himself is having such fun that he does not have to think twice about what he wants to do after London. For many Olympic competitors, the aftermath of every Games involves a process of soul-searching as they decide whether to carry on for another four-year cycle.

For Cook, there is no doubt about what his target will be after London. “Rio 2016,” he says. “Start again. I’m feeling fine. I’m feeling brilliant.” But won’t money be a problem? He has an answer to that one, too: “Hopefully, after I’ve won the Olympics, sponsors will be coming my way.”