Tina Cook, second right, celebrates winning silver in the team eventing with her four colleages including Zara Phillips, far right
Sussex rider Tina Cook returned from London 2012 with a silver medal in the team eventing, helping Team GB to its highest ever medal tally at a modern Olympics.
Tina, from Findon, competed in the three equestrian events alongside teammates William Fox-Pit, Nicola Wilson and Zara Phillips.
It was a particularly emotional achievement for the 41-year-old, who has faced a number of personal tradegies over the past year, including the death of her father, Josh Gifford, in February. At one stage, it looked very unlikely that Tina would be able to take part in the Olympics after her regular horse, Miners Frolic, contracted a potentially fatal bout of colitis.
"He has been so brave fighting back from illness like he has done," said Tina. "To get a medal in London is amazing – we weren't expecting to be here this time last year. You come here wishing for gold… but this means a huge amount."
Brighton's Ashleigh Ball took bronze in the women's hockey, after the GB team defeated New Zealand in the third place playoff on the final Friday of the Games.
Elsewhere, Sussex Olympians narrowly missed out on medals. Ashleigh Ball's fellow Brightonian hockey player Ben Hawes – alongside East Grinstead players Barry Middleton, Glen Kirkham and Ashley Jackson – all missed out on the podium after the men's team finished fourth, losing the bronze medal match 1-3 to rivals Austraila.
Brighton-born Jess Walker, who at 18 was the youngest ever female flatwater canoeist to compete in an Olympics when she was first selected for Team GB in 2008, was back for her second Olympics at London 2012. She helped steer Team GB into the final of the women's kayak four (K4) 500m, finishing a respectable fifth overall, and also reached the final in the women's single kayak K1 200m. A strong qualifier and semi, where she finished second, gave her hope for a srong finish, but she came in outside the medals in seventh place.
"I’ve had a rubbish year and going off my results you wouldn’t put me down as a finalist, so I’m happy," said Jess.
Competing in what has been billed as the finest Olympic handball tournament to date, Horsham's Mark Hawkins was happy to raise the profile of a sport that was until the last month firmly under the radar in the UK. Despite failing to win a game at London 2012, the men's team performed to the best of their ability and can rest easy in the knowledge that come Rio 2016 there will be a much larger pool of players to choose from for Team GB.
"I am being inundated with people contacting me asking where they can play handball in Sussex," he told Active Sussex this week.
Eastbourne's Stevie Morrision, together with longtime sailing partner Ben Rhodes, finished fifth in the 49er sailing at Weymouth. The pair recovered from a capsize in the early heats, but failed to capitalise on a third place finish in race 13.
Morrison said the result was "pretty gutting" but added that he and Rhodes were looking forward to 2016. "Rio sounds lovely," he said.
Sussex also provided the centre forward for Team GB's water polo team in the shape of 23-year-old Jack Waller, from Catsfield near Battle. The team did not make it out of the preliminaries, but promised to return stronger for 2016.
Sussex will have six Paralympians competing over the next few weeks. Visit our Sussex Hopefuls page for more details
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