Never did she expect to stay in the game for so long competing against athletes half her age and, perhaps most importantly, enjoying every minute of it.
Cooke’s sporting journey started when she was 14 years old, when she watched the opening ceremony of the Montréal Olympics in 1976. It changed her life forever.
A talented swimmer, the Canadian native gave her all to improve in the pool, with hopes to one day compete on the greatest stage at an Olympic Games.
Her goal was dashed when the 1980 Games in Moscow were boycotted.
Even though her Olympic dream appeared shattered, the then 18-year-old tried new things and joined the Canadian police force. She worked as a Police Officer in Canada for 14 years, including four years undercover with the drug squad.
She met her future husband, Russ, and moved to Australia in 1994.
All was going well in her adopted country until a few weeks before her 37th birthday; she started to become sick and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1998.
When the Doctor told her to prepare for a life of inaction, her first thought once the shock abated was to use “sport” to fight back.
She took on the challenge of improving her health and was 44 years old when she got her life back on track, following months of extensive physiotherapy.
In 2005 she competed in swimming at the World Masters Games back in Canada and was invited to a Paralympic talent day organised by Paralympics Australia.
"I guess it was just the competitiveness in me that when I found out about Para sport, that led me to think, 'oh, maybe I could do this'," she said.
At the testing, she saw the age difference between her and other athletes; but did not shy away from trying new things - as she always did.
“I was 44, and everybody else there was 20. But I just thought I'll give it a go and see what happens."
She never thought of rowing but accepted the challenge with open arms when offered an invitation to take up the sport.
Two years later in 2007, she competed at her first rowing nationals and was selected for the Australian team.
She narrowly missed the ticket to the 2008 Beijing Paralympics when her team fell short of qualifying by 0.8 seconds.
Cooke made the switch to cycling and her Para sport career skyrocketed.
Her first ever cycling race was the national championships in 2011 in Caloundra, Queensland - she went into that event with no expectations nor much of an idea what she was doing.
When she did race, she shocked the competition. In the time trial, with the engine of a rower, she smashed the Australian national team’s qualification benchmark.
“I remember doing the time trial and I had no idea what to do, so I just rode as hard as I could. And when I finished, Peter Day, who was head of the Para program, came to me and said, ‘Oh my god, where have you come from?’. And I said ‘Melbourne’,” she laughed.
And that was the start.
While she continued to juggle rowing and cycling up to 2014, it was the latter sport that opened the door to realising her teenage dream.
Cooke finally got her chance at the 2012 London Paralympics. It was truly a dream come true: she came away with a gold medal in the T2 time trial.
It’s one of the highlights of her career, she says, and at 51 years old she thought she might not get another opportunity to represent Australia.
But as it turned out, London was just the beginning. She went on to compete at two more Games.
She made it two from two gold medals in the time trial and road race in Rio and won silver in the time trial in Tokyo.
Cooke on the dais at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games
“I remember standing on the podium [in Tokyo] and looking at the German girl beside me, she was 31 and I was 60 - I looked down at my medal, and I thought, ‘This is my gold-medal moment.’
But it was never the medals that mattered most.
There was always a practical application to her hard work - it literally kept her on her feet. Without continual exercise she would most likely be in a wheelchair.
“The fitter I got, the less I spent in hospital. From 2008 to 2021 I didn’t spend time in hospital because of a relapse with MS. I really believe it wasn’t the motivation of getting to another Games. It was about staying fit and keeping myself going.”
Cooke admits that this fact alone was a key motivating factor throughout her career, along with commitment.
At the start of each year, she set goals and committed to achieving them.
One particularly challenging goal she set in 2015 was to write about her amazing life story. After countless hours of hard work the book, “Finding Your Inner Gold” was published.
Cooke says the book is aimed at anyone who is looking at how to “accept major change in their life, overcome adversity, find your hidden courage and create a winning mindset.”
She wrote a second book in 2021 entitled ‘The Force Within’.
Cooke has also tirelessly dedicated her working life to raising awareness and funds for MS.
In 2001, she founded the MS Mega Challenge program with a 24 Hour Mega Swim at the Fitzroy Pool in Melbourne. The program has since expanded to 16 swims across Australia and grown to encompass squash, racquetball and badminton.
The project has raised in excess of $11million which has directly benefitted people living with MS.
2024 was meant to be Cooke’s swan song year as an elite Para cyclist.
Instead, it was possibly one of the most challenging years of her life.
“I got really sick with what they thought was pneumonia, but it was my own body creating inflammation in my lungs. I was in and out of hospital three times, and the third time was the worst because I got COVID on top of it,” she recalled.
“I just about didn’t make it. My sister flew down and everybody was ready for me to kick the bucket. I didn’t realise, and I was in ICU, and I’m like ‘I’ll be good, I’ll just get over this.’ My lung specialist said without my fitness I wouldn’t be here.”
Although she recovered, she wasn’t fit enough to fulfil her goal of competing at her fourth Paralympics, in Paris.
Carol being Carol, she wanted to exit international competition on a high, so when there was a hint of a chance to race the UCI World Championships in Switzerland, she made sure she was there.
“I got there, and I did my last (international) race. I did better than I thought I would. It didn’t matter how fast I went; I got there, and I went out on my own terms.”
In January this year, she raced in her final national championship bringing the curtain down on an illustrious career.
"It's great and I have no qualms about finishing up. It's time and I'm really happy that I get to be in beautiful Perth and somewhere different to finish it off," she said.
VIS General Manager High Performance for the cycling program, Harry Brennan, complimented her impact on advocating for Para sport throughout her time as an athlete.
“Carol has been a real catalyst for engaging other athletes with disabilities to realise their potential pathways into Para sports,” said Brennan.
“A lot of that has been down to her determination to enhance Para sport, it’s visibility and opportunities for Para athletes.”
Elite Para cyclist Emily Petricola OAM, who also lives with MS, has also praised Cooke for her undeniable impact.
“Carol is a passionate advocate for Para sport. She has spent years fighting for equality and better treatment of Para athletes, and for us to be taken seriously as elite athletes. There has been huge growth in these areas because of the advocacy work she has done for us,” said Petricola.
“She is a trailblazer and supports all the athletes around her and leads with empathy, integrity and honesty. The imprint she has left in the Para cycling space will be there for years to come - we all enjoy a better experience within the high-performance system because of the work she has done,” she added.
When reflecting on her career, Cooke herself could never have imagined how her life would unfold from 2011 to 2025.
“What an incredible 14 years it has been! What began as something I simply wanted to try turned into my entire world. Training, traveling, and racing became my life, bringing friendships from around the globe and challenges I never thought I could face,” she said.
“I hope I’ve left a legacy for women everywhere to believe that ‘It’s never too late’. It’s never too late to try something new, chase a dream, or do what once felt impossible,” she added.
Cycling remains Cooke’s passion, her daily escape, and her joy, so she’ll always ride her trike.
As for the next chapter? Who knows what’s ahead.
“I’ll keep building my speaking business, seeking new challenges, and living by the mantra that has defined my journey: ‘It’s never too late.’”
