Malcolm Cooper

Cooper learned to shoot at school in the UK and New Zealand. He also shot and practised at HMS Collingwood, a naval training establishment at Fareham in Hampshire, alongside Andy (Dusty) Miller, the 1968 Far East Services small-bore individual champion. He qualified to join the British Free Rifle Club in 1969. He was then selected for the British team to the 1972 Summer Olympics, where he finished 12th in the 300 m three-position rifle event and 18th in the 50 m three-position rifle.^[1]

After disappointing results at the 1974 World Shooting Championships and 1976 Summer Olympics, he made the decision to retire, until an interaction with Lones Wigger during a clinic held by the United 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, the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott prevented Cooper from competing in Moscow, where he was a favourite to win a medal.^[1]

Cooper was the first shooter to win two consecutive gold medals in the Olympic 50 metre rifle three positions event, a feat which stood unrivalled for twenty-eight years until the 2016 Rio Olympics, when Italian shooter Niccolò Campriani matched the record by successfully defending his three-position title from the 2012 London Olympics.^[3]

Cooper won gold medals in the three-positions event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.^[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 the 1982 World Shooting Championships in 300 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 four Commonwealth 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 in Camberley and learned to shoot whilst attending the Royal Hospital School^[11] at Holbrook in Suffolk, UK before his family moved to New Zealand where he attended Westlake Boys High School and learned the art of shooting small bore rifles. His father, who was in the Royal Navy was drafted there. Cooper started shooting competitively in 1970. In 1978 he co-founded rifle making company Accuracy International.^[12] He married Sarah Robinson in 1974.^[13]

Cooper died in June 2001 after an eight-month battle with cancer. He died at his home in Eastergate, West Sussex.^[4][14]

• Alister Allan
• Barry Dagger
• Sarah Cooper