__NOTOC__
Bradford Paul Cooper (born 19 July 1954) is an Australian former
freestyle and
backstroke
Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...
swimmer of the 1970s, who won a gold medal in the 400 m freestyle at the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
. In that race he originally finished second by the smallest margin ever to decide an Olympic swimming final (one hundredth of a second), but was later awarded the gold medal after the victor, American
Rick DeMont
Richard James DeMont (born April 21, 1956) is an American former competition swimmer, world champion, and former world record-holder in multiple events. DeMont is often remembered for the controversy arising from his disqualification at the 197 ...
, an asthmatic, was disqualified after his post-race urinalysis tested positive for traces of the banned substance
ephedrine
Ephedrine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is often used to prevent low blood pressure during anesthesia. It has also been used for asthma, narcolepsy, and obesity but is not the preferred treatment. It is of unclear benefit in ...
contained in his prescription asthma medication, Marax.
The second of three brothers, Cooper was born in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
to Australian parents but moved with his family to
Rockhampton
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...
,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
at the age of five. There, his father was the manager of a cinema centre and the family also water skied on weekends. The Cooper brothers all learned to swim early and joined the Rockhampton Swimming Club, but it was Brad who shone from the start, winning his first Central Queensland medals at age seven. After his parents divorced when he was twelve, Cooper lived with his father while his brothers stayed with their mother. For the next three years his father entered an unsettled phase, during which time he and Brad lived in a dozen men's boarding houses and hostels in Brisbane and Sydney. This disrupted his education and coaching: he would attend fifteen schools and train under ten coaches, briefly including
John Konrads
John Konrads ( lv, Jānis Konrads; 21 May 1942 – 25 April 2021) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won the 1500 m freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In his career, he set 26 individual world records, a ...
, himself a prolific world-record breaking swimmer and Olympic gold medallist. In 1970, at age 15, at the national open championships, Cooper came second in both the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, putting him briefly in contention for that year's Commonwealth Games team.
Cooper then moved to Sydney, where he trained with
Don Talbot
Donald Malcolm Talbot (23 August 19333 November 2020) was an Australian Olympic swimming coach and sport administrator.
He coached national teams for Canada, the United States and Australia.
Early life
Talbot was born on 23 August 1933 as t ...
. This paid dividends at the 1971 Australian Championships, when he won both the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, the latter in an Australian record time. He also came second in the 400 m freestyle behind fellow Talbot swimmer
Graham Windeatt
Graham Claude Windeatt (born 5 August 1954) is an Australian former long-distance freestyle swimmer of the 1970s, who won a silver medal in the 1500-metre freestyle at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.[Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...]
for competitive experience.
In January 1972, Cooper hit the headlines when he broke the 800 m freestyle world record. Within a month, at the Australian Championships in Brisbane, he won the 400 m and 1500 m freestyle events and the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, showing versatility over a large range of distances. This included a world record in the 400 m freestyle, while his 1500 m freestyle time was only 0.6s outside the world record. He went to Munich as one of the favourites in both the 400 m and 1500 m freestyle events.
In the 400 m event, Cooper contested the race with DeMont and
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
's
Werner Lampe
Werner Lampe (born 30 November 1952) is a retired German swimmer and Olympic medalist. He is the brother of Hans Lampe and father of Oliver Lampe. He participated at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in 4 × 200 m fre ...
who attacked immediately. In the end Lampe faded, and DeMont touched just 0.01s ahead of Cooper. Both then easily qualified for the 1500 m freestyle final, but news came through afterwards that DeMont had been disqualified from the 400 m and barred from starting in the 1500 m final, due to a positive test for
ephedrine
Ephedrine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is often used to prevent low blood pressure during anesthesia. It has also been used for asthma, narcolepsy, and obesity but is not the preferred treatment. It is of unclear benefit in ...
after American officials had forgotten to register his asthma drug
Marax
Theophylline/ephedra/hydroxyzine (trade name Marax) is a drug that was used for the treatment of asthma. It was a combination of theophylline, ephedra, and hydroxyzine, and taken by mouth. It is no longer manufactured in the US due to ephedra Eph ...
. The
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
initially decided to leave the gold medal vacant, until a protest from the Australian delegation resulted in Cooper being awarded the gold medal.
[
The controversy appeared to affect Cooper in the 1500 m freestyle final. He finished seventh, twenty seconds slower than his time in the heats, and more than half a minute slower than his personal best. His performance in the 200 m backstroke placed him fourth, after lowering his personal best by three seconds, although it was two seconds slower than the bronze medal winner. He also placed fifth in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay with Windeatt, ]Michael Wenden
Michael Vincent Wenden, (born 17 November 1949) is a champion swimmer who represented Australia in the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics. In 1968 he won four medals: gold in both the 100- and 200-metre freestyle (setting world reco ...
and Robert Nay
Robert John Nay (15 November 1956 – 7 November 1992) was a competitive swimmer from Australia. Nay competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, but failed to reach the finals. His daughter Meagen Nay competed for Australia at t ...
.
After the Olympics, Talbot left to become a coach in Canada, forcing Cooper to return to Brisbane to train with Harry Gallagher. In 1973, he was the Australian Champion in the 200 m, 400 m and 800 m freestyle, and the 100 m and 200 m backstroke. However, he continued to switch coaches throughout the year, also training with Allan Wood and Tony Fraser. He went on to compete at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships
The 1st FINA World Championships in Aquatics were held in the Tašmajdan Sports Centre in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia, from 31 August to 9 September 1973.
Medal table
Results
Diving
;Men
;Women
Swimming
;Men
;Women
Synchroni ...
in Belgrade, where media interest surrounded his 400 m
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is o ...
and 1500 m freestyle races against DeMont. In the 400 m, both broke the world record and broke the four-minute barrier for the first time, with DeMont finishing ahead of Cooper. Cooper also finished behind DeMont in the 1500 m, but the race was won by Australian Stephen Holland, who broke his own world record. Cooper also won a silver medal as part of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Cooper was then awarded a swimming scholarship to Miami University
Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...
, but was unable to enrol as he had not finished his secondary education in Australia.
At the 1974 Commonwealth Games
The 1974 British Commonwealth Games ( mi, 1974 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) were held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The Games were off ...
in Christchurch, he was upset in the 100 m backstroke by fellow Australian Mark Tonelli
Mark Lyndon Tonelli (born 13 April 1957), whose birth name was Mark Lyndon Leembruggen, is an Australian former backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold in the 4×100-metre medley relay at the 1980 ...
and finished third, but set a new Australian record in the 200 m backstroke to win gold. In the freestyle events, he managed a silver in the 400 m, three seconds outside his best, and finished last in the 1500 m freestyle, one minute slower than his best. He then won the 400 m freestyle and 200 m backstroke at the Australian Championships, and then retired, saying that "''I was sick of the daily grind''".
Cooper later worked in periods in the newspaper industry as a journalist, as well as becoming a swimming coach and building his own swim centre.
He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame
The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...
in 1990, and the International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...
in 1994. He received an Australian Sports Medal
The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...
in 2000.
In 2009 Cooper was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.
Cooper's memoir, ''The Finest Gold: The Making of an Olympic Swimmer'', was published by Scribe in 2018.
See also
* List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests a ...
* List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men)
This is the complete list of men's Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming from 1930 to 2022.
Current program
50 metre freestyle
100 metre freestyle
200 metre freestyle
400 metre freestyle
1500 metre freestyle
50 metre backstroke
...
* List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
This is the complete list of men's Olympic medalists in swimming.
Men's events 50 metre freestyle
100 metre freestyle
200 metre freestyle
400 metre freestyle
800 metre freestyle
1500 metre freestyle
100 metre backstroke
200 metre ...
* World record progression 400 metres freestyle
The first world record in the men's 400 metres freestyle in long course (50 metres) swimming was recognised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 1908. In the short course (25 metres) swimming events the world's governing b ...
* World record progression 800 metres freestyle
The first world record in the women's 800 metres freestyle in long course (50 metres) swimming was recognised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 1931. The women's 880 yard freestyle had been a FINA-recognised world record ev ...
Notes
References
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
Brad Cooper
at the International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Brad
1954 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Rockhampton
Olympic swimmers of Australia
Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Australia
World record setters in swimming
Australian male backstroke swimmers
Australian male freestyle swimmers
World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
People educated at Brisbane State High School
Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal
Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees
Sportsmen from Queensland
Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists in swimming
Swimmers at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia
Medallists at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games