Bianca Cook more determined than ever for one last shot at scooping Olympic gold in Paris

Liverpool's taekwondo star Bianca Cook is intent on getting her "fairytale ending" at the Olympics in Paris next year following her disappointment in Tokyo.

The 31-year-old scooped the bronze medal after losing to a last-second head-kick to her opponent Lee Da-bin of South Korea in the +67kg category.

World champion Cook, who married her long-term partner and fellow taekwondo champion Aaron Cook last year, has confirmed that the Olympic games in 2024 will be her last.

Cook also Cook fell on golden point to China’s Shuyin Lee in the 2016 semi-finals.

However, she insists that after shrugging off her most recent disappointment, she is more motivated than ever to end her taekwondo career on a high.

She said: “It’s definitely the last one I’m going for so I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.

“All I’ve got on my mind is getting to Paris and winning that gold.

"I know I’m still good enough and, if I can finish my career with a gold medal in Paris, it would be the fairytale ending.”

Before then, Cook is aiming to make history in her sport by becoming the first woman to win four world taekwondo titles in Baku, Azerbaijan at the end of May.

Between 2015 and 2019 Cook won consecutive gold medals in Chelyabinsk, Muju and Manchester.

But she failed to make it four in a row when she missed out on the 2022 tournament in Guadalajara after suffering an injury.

“I never thought I’d be in the position to make history after missing the last one, so it is a great motivation to become the only female ever to have four gold medals,” Cook added.

“Making history is the sort of thing that motivates you through another cycle because for me it is all about that Olympic gold – I would give everything else away for that right now," she continued.

“But I don’t feel like I’m chasing anything. I could go to Paris having won four world titles and five Europeans so I have already achieved more than I ever dreamed of in this sport.

“Paris would be the happy ending but if I didn’t get it I wouldn’t be going to try again to get to the next one.”

Great Britain’s 11-strong team for the World Championship also includes double Olympic champion Jade Jones, and Cook’s fellow Tokyo medallists Lauren Williams and Bradly Sinden.