Andrew Dollman Cooper (born 23 December 1964) is a former Australian

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

Champion and World Champion

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...

. He is a national champion, dual Olympian and two-time World Champion who achieved success as a member of Australia's "

Oarsome Foursome The Oarsome Foursome is the nickname for an Australian men's rowing coxless four crew who competed with a clear lineage between 1990 and 2012, winning two Olympic gold medals and one silver medal, two world championships as a coxless four, and ...

" in 1991 and 1992.

Club and state rowing

Cooper's senior rowing was with the

Mercantile Rowing Club The Mercantile Rowing Club is based in Melbourne, Australia on the Yarra River. It was founded in 1880 and has occupied its current site since 1885. More than 40 Mercantillians have represented Australia at Olympic Games. Club history A group o ...

in Melbourne and he was selected to train at the Australian Institute of Sport from 1986. Cooper competed at the National Regatta in Mercantile colours in

coxless pair A coxless pair is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars. The crew consists of a pair of rowers, each having one oar, one on the stroke side (rower's right h ...

and in coxed and

coxless four A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on th ...

from 1986 to 1988 and in 1990. He won Australian national titles at those

Australian Rowing Championships Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

in 1986 in a

; and in 1990 in both the coxed and

with other members of the

. Cooper was selected in Victorian state representative King's Cup crews contesting the men's Interstate Eight-Oared Championship at the

in 1988, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995. Cooper enjoyed the rare distinction of being victorious in every King's Cup he raced.

International representative rowing

Cooper's first national representative selection was to the 1985 Match des Seniors in

Banyoles Banyoles () is a city of 20,168 inhabitants (2021) located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain. The town is the capital of the Catalan Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' "Pla de l'Estany". Although an established indust ...

Spain – the equivalent at the time of today's

World Rowing U23 Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic sur ...

. Cooper rowed in the Australian men's eight to a silver medal. That same crew represented Australia in the men's eight selected for the 1985 Trans-Tasman U/23 regatta held on

Lake Ruataniwha Lake Ruataniwha is an artificial lake in the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand. It was formed in 1977–1981 as part of the Waitaki hydroelectric project. It lies on the traditional boundary of the Canterbury and Otago provinces, ...

New Zealand. Cooper's senior call-up was into the men's eight who competed and took the gold at the

1986 World Rowing Championships The 1986 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 17 to 24 August 1986 at Nottingham in the United Kingdom. Medal summary Looking at the open weight classes only, East Germany was the most successful nation ...

in Nottingham, England. This was Australia's first and to date only, World Championship win the men's eight. That same year at the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis 1986) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. They were the second Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largel ...

in Edinburgh, in that same crew Cooper won gold in the Australian men's VIII. At the

1987 World Rowing Championships The 1987 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 29 to 30 August 1987 in Copenhagen, Denmark while it was "outrageously windy". Medal summary Medalists at the 1987 World Rowing Championships were: Men's ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Cooper was in the bow seat of the Australian eight who took fourth place. He was moved to the three seat for the men's eight for the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in Seoul who placed fifth. Cooper's teammates on that occasion were James Galloway, Hamish McLachlan, Mike McKay,

Mark Doyle Mark Doyle is a British journalist and former world affairs correspondent for BBC News. He is known in particular for his articles on topics related to Africa. Early life and education Career In 1980, Doyle volunteered as a student teacher a ...

, James Tomkins, Ion Popa, Steve Evans, and

Dale Caterson Dale Caterson (born 19 July 1961) is an Australian former national champion, World Champion, Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medal winning rowing coxswain. He is Australia's first World Champion coxswain, having steered the 1986 World Cham ...

(cox). He would go on to enjoy great success rowing with Tomkins and McKay. In 1991 Cooper was in the Australian coxless four who won gold at the

1991 World Rowing Championships The 1991 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 19 to 25 August 1991 in Vienna, Austria. The regatta was held on the New Danube. Medal summary The finals were raced on Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25 August ...

in Vienna along with Nick Green, Mike McKay, and James Tomkins. This was the second iteration of Australia's successful

. The same crew repeated this achievement taking gold the following year at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. After a break the champion foursome returned to the water at state and national level in 1994 but were not ready for the 1994 World Championships. At the

1995 World Rowing Championships File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strik ...

in Tampere Finland, the Oarsome Foursome represented again as a

Coxless four A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on th ...

seated as they'd been at Vienna and Barcelona. They finished fifth. This was Cooper's last international regatta in Australian colours.

Accolades

In 1999 he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.Hall of Fame
/ref> In 2010 Cooper was inducted as a member of the Rowing Victoria Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Andrew 1964 births Living people Australian male rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Australia People educated at Brighton Grammar School Australian Institute of Sport rowers Olympic medalists in rowing Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in rowing Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia Rowers at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century Australian sportspeople Rowers from Melbourne Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from Victoria (state)