Does former athlete Kathy Cook still hold any British records?

The short answer is yes she does, albeit just in the rarely contested 300 metres, which she ran in 35.46 seconds at Crystal Palace, London on August 18, 1984. Indeed, her time stood not only as a British record, but also as a world record, until Ana Gabriela Guevara of Mexico ran 35.30 seconds, at altitude, at the Grand Prix Banamex in Mexico City on May 3, 2003.

Kathryn Jane ‘Kathy’ Cook ran her last competitive race at the UK Athletics Championshiops at Moorways Stadium, Derby in 1987, but remains one of the outstanding female sprinters in the history of British athletics. Four decades after her retirement, she is still the only Briton, of either sex, to reach Olympic finals in the individual 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres. Cook is also three times an Olympic medallist. She twice collected a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay, alongside Heather Hunte, Beverley Goddard and Sonia Lannaman at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and alongside Heather Oakes (née Hunte), Beverley Callender (née Goddard) and Simmone Jacobs at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, on the latter occasion having already won a individual bronze medal in the 400 metres.

At one point, Cook held British national records for 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres and the 4 x 100 metres relay. She ran her personal best for 100 metres, 11.10 seconds, when runner-up to Evelyn Ashford at the IAAF World Cup in Athletics in Rome on September 5, 1981, thereby setting a national record that stood until 2008. Likewise, her British record for 200 metres, 22.10 seconds, set when finishing fourth in the Olympic final on August 9, 1984, stood until 2015, her British record for 400 metres, 49.43 seconds, also set in the Olympic final three days earlier, stood until 2013 and her British record in the 4 x 100 metres relay, 42.43 seconds, set in the aforemention Olympic final on August 1, 1980, stood until 2014.

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