Cook Receives WA Junior Athlete of the Year Award
Olympian Tamsin Cook has won the Railtrain Junior Sports Star prize at the 2016 RAC Sports Star of the Year Awards.
The event – which was celebrating its 60thanniversary – was held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on Monday night, recognising the best in Western Australian sport over the past year.
Cook rose to national prominence in August when the 17 year-old anchored the Australian women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team to an Olympic silver medal in Rio, as she swam next to American superstar Katie Ledecky, holding off challengers to Australia’s podium place.
The UWA swim club member who will celebrate her 18th birthday on Christmas Day, has earned a string of plaudits in the months since her Olympic debut, scooping the WAIS Junior Athlete of the Year as well as receiving the prestigious Winter-Strickland Medal through the Western Australian Olympic Council, which honours the most impressive Olympic performance each four years and is voted on by WA’s Olympic alumni.
The award was accepted by Tamsin’s mother Kaye, with Cook currently in Queensland preparing for competition ahead of the 2017 domestic season.
The top award – the RAC Sports Star of the Year – went to WA amateur golfer Curtis Luck who won the 2016 US Amateur Championship title, adding his name to a previous winners’ list that reads like a rollcall of golfing royalty, including luminaries such as; Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Luck edged out WA cycling talent Sam Welsford in a tight vote, with the field also including West Coast Eagles’ Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy and F1 star Daniel Ricciardo amongst a highly credentialed list of 12 finalists.
Other major award winners included Luck’s coach Craig Bishop who earned recognition as the KPMG Coach of the Year, the Perth Wildcats – who claimed the Channel Seven Perth Team of the Year and the Community TAB Official of the Year, which went to long-term and highly regarded sports administrator Frank Stapleton.