“He was my sole coach all the way up to nine months ago, when I joined the academy, and I owe him everything.”
Muhammad became a member of the GB Taekwondo set-up in August last year, shortly after Cook quit the programme.
However, they could have been training partners had the Londoner not turned down an offer after impressing during a UK Sport Talent ID programme, external in 2010.
“At the time I was just beginning my university degree and I just couldn’t sort out staying at my university and being a GB Taekwondo athlete at the same time, so unfortunately I had to let that go,” reflected Muhammad.
A year on he was able to establish a distance learning programme for his Sports Science degree at Middlesex University and moved to Manchester.
“As much as I love taekwondo, I’ll only be able to do it for maybe 10 more years so I really want to set myself up with a viable career for after my life in taekwondo has finished,” he said.
Straight talking and ‘rapid’ improvements in the sport aside, over the same nine-month period Cook has claimed nine tournament victories to Muhammad’s one.
However, Cook’s first-round elimination at last year’s World Championships is believed to have worked against him, as has his inability to gain an outright win in the European Championships, with the Dorset-born fighter relying on his opponent, Ramin Azizov, being disqualified to take gold.
