Stevenson heads GB Olympic team

Sarah Stevenson will compete in her third Olympic Games aged just 25 after being named in the GB taekwondo team with Aaron Cook and Michael Harvey.

After breaking a hand last year Stevenson, from Doncaster, won gold at the recent Dutch and Belgian Opens and will fight in the +67kg category.

Cook, 17, was crowned world junior champion last week and will make his Olympic debut in the -80kg class.

Eighteen-year-old Harvey, at -58kg, has only just switched to the senior squad.

The British taekwondo team are based at the Feat Factory, a converted factory on an industrial estate in Manchester.

Team leader Gary Hall said: "I am excited and optimistic about the performances this team will deliver.

"The British taekwondo team continues to go from strength to strength in a fully professionally supported system."

Stevenson is the most experienced member of the team having competed at both the Sydney and Athens Olympics.

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After winning the 1998 Junior World Championships, she has won the 2001 senior version, three European Championship golds, and silver at both the 2005 worlds and Olympic qualifier in Manchester last September.

Cook's inclusion is no surprise as he has made rapid progress in the seniors with victory in the German Open aged 16 in 2007 and gold in this year's Belgian Open.

The Dorset fighter's win in Turkey this month also helped him become the first-ever male British athlete to win a WTF World Junior Championship title.

The battle for the third remaining place had been very competitive with Mansfield's Tyrone Robinson pushing hard after claiming bronze in the European Championships in Rome in April.

However, he was edged out by Harvey from Cheshire, whose record includes a bronze at the Junior European championships in 2005 and two silvers in 2006 at the Junior Dutch and US Opens.

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