Victoria Cook (born 1933, died April 18, 2019, from

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) was a World Champion

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

who represented the

. Cook took up archery in 1959 following an illness, and the subsequent doctor's recommendation of fresh air. Within three months she won the

state championship, and was then selected to represent the

at the 1961 World Archery Championships, where she was part of the gold-medal winning women's team. She continued to shoot, despite recurring illness and surgery, and reached her greatest achievement in defeating fellow American and world champion Nancy Vonderheide to win the 1963 World Championships, which she had paid her own way to attend. She added the US national championship in 1964, and represented the US at

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

until

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. Cook was inducted into the Archery Hall of Fame in 2011.Archery Hall of Fame: Victoria Cook
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Victoria 1933 births 2019 deaths American female archers World Archery Championships medalists 21st-century American women Sportspeople from Minneapolis 20th-century American sportswomen