Steve Cook

After losing his right leg in a farm accident in 1988, an undeterred Steve Cook, born in 1968, took determination to new heights that saw him become America’s most decorated Nordic athlete. With unbending grit, he overcame his misfortune to win seven Paralympic Winter Games medals, seven Disabled World Championship medals, and the Disabled World Cup Overall during an 11-year reign.

As the cornerstone of the U.S. Disabled Cross-Country Ski Team, Cook’s tenacity prevailed when he won a U.S. record four silver medals during the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. In 2005 he won two gold medals and a bronze to win the World Cup title at Fort Kent, Maine, in the World Championships that doubled as World Cup races.

A Salt Lake City resident, he added to his list of accomplishments at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy, winning two gold medals and a silver. Retiring from racing in 2007, Steve pointed his can-do attitude to the National Ability Center in Park City where he helped develop a Nordic program for disabled athletes that feeds the U.S. Team development pipeline.

Later he worked with the Park City Junior Nordic Ski Team and in 2014 became Head Coach and Junior Program Director of the Utah Nordic Alliance. Determination and Steve Cook – they were one.