Malcolm Douglas Cooper,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, (20 December 1947 – 9 June 2001) was a British

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such a ...

and founder of

Accuracy International Accuracy International is a British firearms manufacturer based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The company produces the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series of precision sniper rifles. The company was established in 1978 by Britis ...

Sports shooting career

He was the first shooter to win two consecutive gold medals in the Olympic

50 metre rifle three positions 50 meter rifle three positions (formerly known as one of four free rifle disciplines) is an International Shooting Sport Federation event, a miniature version of 300 meter rifle three positions. It consists of the kneeling, prone, and standing p ...

event, a feat which stood unrivalled for 28 years until the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, when Italian shooter

Niccolò Campriani Niccolò Campriani (born November 6, 1987) is an Italian sport shooter and shooting coach. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in the men's 10 metre air rifle, men's small-bore rifle, three positions, 50 metres and men's small-bor ...

matched the record by successfully defending his three position title from the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. He won gold medals at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and at 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 ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

(both in the three positions event). In 1986 he was also world champion in 300 m Standard Rifle, a non-Olympic rifle discipline in which he claimed several European and World titles, as well as holding the World record for a period. Cooper won twelve

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

medals; four gold medals, five silver medals and three bronze medals and represented England at four Games from 1974 until 1990.

Personal life

Cooper was born in 1947 in

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...

and learned to shoot whilst attending the

Royal Hospital School ) , established = 1694 Royal Charter1712 Greenwich1933 Holbrook, Suffolk, Holbrook , type = Public school (UK), Public School Independent school (UK), Independent day and boarding School Royal Foundation , founders = William ...

at Holbrook in Suffolk, UK before his family moved to New Zealand where he attended

Westlake Boys High School Westlake Boys High School is a state secondary school for boys located in Forrest Hill, Auckland, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962, when Westlake High School (opened 1958) split into Westlake Girls High School on the existing site and We ...

and learned the art of shooting small bore rifles. His father, who was in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

was drafted there: He started shooting competitively in 1970. In 1978 he co-founded rifle making company

. He married Sarah Robinson in 1974. Cooper died in June 2001 after an eight-month battle with cancer. He died at his home in

Eastergate Eastergate is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Barnham and Eastergate, in the Arun district of West Sussex, England. It is located five miles (8 km) east of Chichester. The civil parish covered an area of 370ha (of w ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

References

External links

*
The Telegraph: Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Malcolm 1947 births 2001 deaths Olympic shooters of Great Britain British male sport shooters ISSF rifle shooters Shooters at the 1972 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1976 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1984 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1988 Summer Olympics English Olympic medallists Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain People from Camberley People educated at Westlake Boys High School Olympic medalists in shooting People educated at the Royal Hospital School Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in shooting Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England 20th-century English businesspeople