Thursday 2 April 2015 14:41, UK
Taekwondo fighter Aaron Cook has confirmed he will switch allegiance to Moldova in a bid to fulfill his ambitions of competing at the Olympic Games in Brazil next year.
The 24-year-old Dorset-born Cook, who was overlooked for the Great Britain squad for the 2012 games in London, has applied for citizenship after receiving funding from Moldovan billionaire Igor Iuzefovici.
He has now received his passport from the former Soviet state, having spent the past two years representing the Isle of Man for whom he won the European title in 2014.
Cook, who fought for Team GB at the Beijing Games of 2008, was overlooked four years later, despite winning European Championship gold in his 80kg weight category in May 2012.
Cook, who has won the European title in three straight championships (2010-12-14), claims he was not selected for London 2012 because he decided to quit the British training programme in 2011.
GB Taekwondo has always denied this and Cook says he will now compete for Moldova.
He wrote on his Facebook page: "I will soon begin a new journey representing the Republic of Moldova at all international competitions and hopefully the Rio Olympic Games and beyond, should I qualify.
"Although I am upset and disappointed I will not represent my country of birth at another major championships, I felt I had no other option.
"I am a fighter at heart and I am not going to throw away 20 years of dedication because of bureaucracy.
"It has been an amazing couple of years full of memories, and I would have loved to continue competing under the Isle of Man banner.
"Unfortunately, that was never going to be possible as it was made clear to me in May of last year, after winning the European Championships for the third consecutive time, that it would not be possible for me to be selected for Team GB, regardless of my world ranking or performances.
I am not going to throw away 20 years of dedication because of bureaucracy.
"Having received no funding or support from the GB system and financing myself since June 2011, this was not a situation that was acceptable to me and I did not want to put myself, family, friends, supporters or sport through the same situation we were forced to endure at the London 2012 Olympic Games."
However the British Olympic Association could yet block the move.
