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Nickname | Cooperman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1947-12-20)20 December 1947 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 9 June 2001(2001-06-09) (aged 53) Eastergate, West Sussex, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Sports shooting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Malcolm Douglas Cooper,MBE, (20 December 1947 – 9 June 2001) was a Britishsport shooter and founder ofAccuracy International. Competing inISSF 50-metre and 300-metre rifle events, he dominated his events for several years, becoming the first shooter to win the Olympic 50-metre three-position rifle event twice. He held or shared fiveworld records in 300-metre rifle events.
Cooper learned to shoot at school in the UK and New Zealand. He also shot and practised atHMS Collingwood, a naval training establishment at Fareham in Hampshire, alongside Andy (Dusty) Miller, the 1968 Far East Servicessmall-bore individual champion. He qualified to join the British Free Rifle Club in 1969. He was then selected for the British team to the1972 Summer Olympics, where he finished 12th in the300 m three-position rifle event and 18th in the50 m three-position rifle.[1]
After disappointing results at the 1974World Shooting Championships and 1976 Summer Olympics, he made the decision to retire, until an interaction withLones Wigger during a clinic held by theUnited States Army Marksmanship Unit in England inspired him to continue.[1]
In 1977, Cooper won the European Championships in both 50 m and 300 m three-position events, with his 300 m standing score equalling the world record.[1][2]
Having won most of his matches in 1980, the1980 Summer Olympics boycott prevented Cooper from competing inMoscow, where he was a favourite to win a medal.[1]
Cooper was the first shooter to win two consecutive gold medals in the Olympic50 metre rifle three positions event, a feat which stood unrivalled for twenty-eight years until the2016 Rio Olympics, when Italian shooterNiccolò Campriani matched the record by successfully defending his three-position title from the2012 London Olympics.[3]
Cooper won gold medals in the three-positions event at the1984 Summer Olympics inLos Angeles and at the1988 Summer Olympics inSeoul.[4] The 1988 victory came despite his rifle being seriously damaged two days before the match. Working with the USSR armourer, he repaired the stock in time to compete.[5]
Between the Olympics, Cooper became World Champion at the1982 World Shooting Championships in300 m Standard Rifle, by then a non-Olympic rifle discipline in which he claimed several European and world titles and held the world record for a period.[citation needed]
Cooper represented England at fourCommonwealth Games between 1974 and 1990, winning twelve medals: four gold, five silver, and three bronze.[6][7][8][9][10]
Cooper was born in 1947 inCamberley and learned to shoot whilst attending theRoyal Hospital School[11] at Holbrook in Suffolk, UK before his family moved to New Zealand where he attendedWestlake Boys High School and learned the art of shootingsmall bore rifles. His father, who was in theRoyal Navy was drafted there. Cooper started shooting competitively in 1970. In 1978 he co-founded rifle making companyAccuracy International.[12] He marriedSarah Robinson in 1974.[13]
Cooper died in June 2001 after an eight-month battle with cancer. He died at his home inEastergate,West Sussex.[4][14]
