IT'S ALL ABOUT SEOUL FOR COOK AND BARNETT'S COMEBACK TOUR
BEACH VOLLEYBALL, May 24: Australia's golden girl of beach volleyball Natalie Cook can be excused if she has Billy Joel's "All About Soul" playing in her headphones when she steps nervously on to the courts at Han River Jamsil Citizen Park in Seoul tomorrow.
Cook, at 35, will make a long-awaited comeback to international beach volleyball in the fourth event of the 2010 Swatch FIVB World Tour in quest of a history making fifth Summer Olympics in London in 2012.
It will be the start of a two-year odyssey that will hopefully see Cook, the only female volleyballer to attend four Olympics (1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008) add a record-breaking fifth.
No other Australian female has represented at five Summer Olympics and it is something Cook is passionate about.
She will again team up with her Beijing Olympic partner Tamsin Barnett under the direction of guest coach Kerri Pottharst - Cook's gold medal winning partner from Sydney 2000.
The trio have undergone rigorous training routines separately and together with Cook spending time in Melbourne and Barnett in Brisbane as the pair prepare to take on the best teams in the world.
"You could certainly say it is all about Seoul," said Cook on the eve of her comeback tour where her and Barnett will have to play in the tournament qualification rounds for the first time o make it through to the main draw.
"Seoul will tell us where we are at. It will tell us what we've got to do or how close we are - hopefully the latter but I'm really excited about the comeback in Seoul. It was there in 2007 that Tamsin and I won the World Tour event so it's a little bit of a happy hunting ground for us.
"But I must admit I will be a little bit nervous going in the tournament because it is the fourth leg on the Swatch FIVB World tour this year so a lot of our opposition will be game ready; they will have ironed out a few of the bugs and we will just be coming in.
"Tamsin and I have been training separately. She's in Melbourne and I'm in Brisbane and of course she's got a little baby now....so I'm sure that is (only) adding to her training.
"We played awesome (to win) in 2007 (in Seoul) where we beat two good Brazilian teams and two Chinese teams which were top of the tree at the time.
"Going back to Seoul will hopefully bring back some emotions and give us another two points per match to get us over the line.
"We have to go into a qualification round which is very unusual for me it's never happened in 16 years so we have to start from way down the ladder and hopefully the nerves and the excitement of getting back into the tournament should help us through that."
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Dual Olympian Barnett made her stunning comeback at this year's Lifestyle Asset Management Australian Championships at Brisbane's Sandstorm Courts where she combined with the season's leading player, Manly's Alice Rohkamper to beat Queensland's sister combination Jordan and Justine Mowen from the QAS in a dominant bronze-medal match.
It capped a remarkable comeback to centre court for Barnett, who combined with Rohkamper for the first time, just six months after giving birth to son Arley last September.
But for the reunion between Cook and Barnett those first nervous steps towards London will start in earnest in Seoul...and they may just adopt a few more of Billy Joel's famous words.....Who's standing now and who's standing tomorrow.....You've got to be hard......As hard as the rock in that old rock'n roll......But that's only part, you know in your heart......It's all about Soul...
FIVB WORLD TOUR WEBSITE: http://www.fivb.ch/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2010/Event/?TournCode=WSEO2010
LISTEN TO:
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Natalie excited about come back in Seoul 2010 {audio}/images/stories/news-articles/audio/Natalie Cook excited about come back starting in Seoul.mp3{/audio}