Dark Blues brothers bring blood, sweat and tears to Oxford’s cause
Ollie and Jamie Cook tell why they have found solace and strength in each other
trying his best,” Ollie says. “That forces me to be at my best as well.” “We both started rugby at quite an early age,” Jamie remembers. “We used to play for Windsor, and our father would give us 20p for every tackle we made.”
“There was a good tuck shop where you could spend the money afterwards,” Ollie interjects.
“Ollie’s game would normally be before my game,” Jamie continues, “so Dad would always tell me how many sweets Ollie got. And I would just go berserk trying to beat that number. It’s something that’s always there. There’s a surface of real competition.”
Beneath the surface, however, there is something stronger that binds them together, a link forged as much in adversity as in triumph. Twelve months ago, Jamie was in the Oxford crew that lost the Boat Race by two lengths. It was, he says now, “one of the most difficult times of my life”.
Afterwards, he resolved that his days in the sport were over. “I was completely done with rowing,” he says. “I didn’t want to do it again. When you lose a race like the Boat Race, that’s your whole year. I was devastated for a long time afterwards.”
Standing in the Oxford boathouse watching the race, Ollie was overcome by a strange and uncontrollable anguish. “It was really difficult,” he says. “Because I couldn’t do anything about it. I wanted to be in that boat. To make sure he wasn’t going to lose. I told myself then that I was going to make sure that if Jamie wanted to row again, I’d be there.”
A few months later, the roles were reversed. Having spent four years slogging away in an attempt to make the British team for Rio, Ollie just missed the cut.
Reeling from their respective setbacks, the Cook brothers sought solace and strength in a familiar place: each other. With the help of a supportive family, Jamie got over his heartache and set about winning a place in the 2017 Blue boat. Ollie won a place at Christ Church College and set about joining him. It was, Jamie reports, the toughest selection process he has ever endured.
“We do this thing called the Step Test,” he recalls. “It’s brutal. Every four minutes, you increase the intensity, until you’re flat out on the floor. I remember I was on my final four-minute step, going absolutely flat out, and Ollie wanders in.”
“Still slightly hung-over,” Ollie chips in. “And suddenly,” James continues, “I just switched into a new gear. I was like, ‘f--- this, I’m going to absolutely kill myself ’. There’s this greater power. Just knowing that I’m not here alone – it’s much more special.”
And so, here they sit: Jamie in the three seat, Ollie in the seven. And whether their journey ends in victory or defeat, it will be all the richer for having been shared. This, after all, is the very essence of sporting fraternity: a bond as common as water, and as thick as blood.