Keith Cooke is a man of many talents, having achieved heights in wushu, taekwondo, and karate. He began practicing wushu in 1973 under the guidance of Roger Tang. In 1980 he went to China, where he trained 5 hours a day, and in 1983 he began competing. He immediately took second place in both the Weapons and Forms categories (losing to George Chung). But the following year he became number one, and in 1985 he was named best martial artist of the year.