 He departed these shores with a napsack full of hope and little else, but returned eight weeks later laden down with medals of every hue. Two gold and a silver from the Commonwealth Games, topped up by a bronze at the World Championships. Letters of congratulations have poured in from far and wide to Chris Cook's home in Wallsend, his parents' house in South Shields, and the City of Newcastle baths off Northumberland Street. It's been a deluge that has taken the 26-year-old Geordie by surprise, many cards just addressed "Chris Cook, City Pool". Fame has arrived suddenly, and it's a terrific guest. For the barrier to becoming a double Commonwealth champion has loomed larger than Becher's Brook - not only Australians from a swimming-obsessed nation to overcome, but a couple of tough Brits camped permanently on his doorstep to remind him he wasn't officially even the best in his own country. British swimming has long produced great world-class breaststrokers, such as Duncan Goodhew, David Wilkie, Adrian Moorhouse and Nick Gillingham, but these merry days we possess not one but three of the highest quality - which is good for us, but not for them. James Gibson, a former world champion, and Darren Mew have cast a massive shadow over Cook which would have obliterated a lesser man, but instead Chris dug deep into his soul and his pocket to produce the stunning reply that swept his tormentors out of the pool in Melbourne and Shanghai. It was a personal triumph for Cook and his Newcastle coach Ian Oliver, who between them launched a strategy away from public glare tailored specifically towards making the Geordie top man at the Commonwealths. "It has often been the case that Britain was allowed only two swimmers in each event and I was the one to stay at home in the breaststroke," Chris told me. "I'd missed many a major because of Gibson and Mew - the last Commonwealths, the Europeans, Olympics and Worlds. "Here I was, lottery-backed as a world-class performer rated in the world top 12, but unable to swim at major events. "So I sat down with Ian and devised a plan geared to changing that. "Then I asked for a meeting with the Performance Director Bill Sweetenham and told him I was the biggest waste of money sitting at home. "I told him that I wanted to go and race across Europe while Gibson and Mew were at the majors. I wanted the competition, I wanted to get that edge, and I was willing to put up some of my own money to finance the trips. "He agreed and we went 50-50 on costs. "I hitched on to any party I could - a team of youth swimmers going abroad, whatever. I had to swim competitively to be ready - and I did. "I also widened my focus so it wasn't just on Gibson and Mew, but all the world's best. "I was positive and hungry, right in the mind as well as the body. And I went out to our training camp on the Gold Coast quietly believing I could become top dog." First came the 100 metres gold, the blue ribband Olympic event. Then gold again in the 50m bash. And finally a relay silver alongside his one-time rivals. All topped off by a 50m bronze in the World Short Course Championships in China, the climax to eight weeks away from Tyneside. "The 100m was probably my best swim and my best medal," Cook told me. "It's an Olympic event, the prestige event, and it was the first up at the Commonwealths to test where I stood with Gibson, Mew and the Australians. "The 100m takes more training, more tactics and more daring. The 50m is a dash and bash. "Remember that we were racing in Australia where they live and breath swimming. "We had come back from the Sydney Olympics without a solitary medal in the pool - the rest of the world had moved on. "Here we were again and we had to prove ourselves against their finest." Cook hoisted the flag of intent in the semi-finals when he qualified as the fastest swimmer in a Games record time. "That was both good and bad," he smiled "I went out in 16 strokes and back in 21. "I was ready even though I'd been in better physical shape, but had I peaked too soon? "The only place I could crumble was in the mind and I had no intention of doing that." Just before he raced the final his Newcastle coach Ian Oliver, on the English panel, handed him a card. "On the front Ian had written "Be yourself. Obey your inner voice". Chris smiles at the memory. "Ian's such a rock, he's been with me every step of the way through the years. "We didn't talk tactics, we didn't need to. I just had to be right - sometimes the muscles can be there but the driver upstairs can be a bit soft. You have to be strong of mind." Explaining the race itself, Cook went on: "I'm blessed with a great second 50 metres and I've worked hard on my front end, so I'll be in the mix at the finish. "Although you can't see much in a breaststroke race I can sense where my rivals are, and at 50m I knew I'd won even though I was only fourth behind Gibson, Mew and Aussie Brenton Rickard. "I felt comfortable and my best part of a race was to come. If you go out too quick you come back in a bodybag. All I had to do was stay calm." Gibson took silver to Cook in the 100m, Mew was second in the 50m. Both beaten twice, as was everyone else. It was particularly pleasing for Chris because his mam and dad, Lynn and Tony, had made the long journey from Tyneside to be in the 12,000 crowd along with fiancee Erica Hurn. However, there was to be no partying. That would have to wait. "I got a big hug poolside and that was it," he confirmed. "I did my drugs test and medal ceremony and got back to the athletes village at around 1.30am. I had to be up again at 6.30am for the 50m heats. "After I won gold there I didn't get to the village until 2am and was up at 6.30 again for the relay heats. It was all work but I accept that. I'm experienced enough." Gibson, so cocky a performer, surprisingly showed tremendous humility in defeat, praising Cook's performances. "We're all different people," explained Chris. "We probably wouldn't have met and mixed but for swimming. James is actually a very different person outside of the arena, a good lad, not as brash and cocky as he appears. "Darren Mew is more reserved and quiet. "You can't get too close because you're race rivals, but I'd supported them and cheered them home. I'd stood in the crowd and blared a foghorn on their behalf. Now, however, it's my turn." Cook admits that taking silver in the 4x100m relay behind Australia was excellent but, somehow, seemed a bit of an anti-climax after two individual golds. "I'd got used to winning," he grinned. That's significant for a man who at 25 years of age thought about retiring after the Athens Olympics. "He had under-performed, was said to be a little too old by the doubters, and not tall enough to be a world-class swimmer. "Then I thought hang on a minute, I have so much more to offer. I'm good enough and I'm as strong as my bigger rivals with 15 kilos less to carry round. They are positives. I'm staying with it." Wise man. Page 2: How Shanghai gamble paid off with a bronze | 
