Malcolm Cooper

Malcolm Douglas Cooper, MBE, (20 December 1947 – 9 June 2001) was a British sport shooter and founder of Accuracy International.

Malcolm Cooper
Personal information
Born(1947-12-20)20 December 1947
Camberley, Surrey, England
Died9 June 2001(2001-06-09) (aged 53)
Eastergate, West Sussex, England
Sport
SportSports shooting
Medal record
Men's shooting
Representing  Great Britain
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 - -
World Shooting Championships 7 4 4
ISSF World Cup 1 1 2
European Shooting Championships 14 5 2
Olympic Games
1984 Los Angeles 50 m Rifle 3 Positions
1988 Seoul 50 m Rifle 3 Positions
World Championships
1990 Moscow 300 m Rifle 3 Positions
1978 Seoul 50 m Rifle 3 Positions
1982 Caracas Team 50 m Rifle 3 Positions
1986 Suhl 50 m Rifle 3 Positions
1986 Skovede 300 m Rifle 3 Positions
1982 Caracas 300 m Rifle 3 Positions
1979 Seoul Team 10 m Air Rifle
Representing  England
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Commonwealth Games 4 5 3

Sports shooting career

He 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 28 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.[1] He won gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul (both in the three positions event).[2] 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 medals; four gold medals, five silver medals and three bronze medals and represented England at four Games from 1974 until 1990.[3][4][5][6][7]

Personal life

Cooper was born in 1947 in Camberley and learned to shoot whilst attending the Royal Hospital School[8] 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: He started shooting competitively in 1970. In 1978 he co-founded rifle making company Accuracy International[9]. He married Sarah Robinson in 1974.[10]

Cooper died in June 2001 after an eight-month battle with cancer. He died at his home in Eastergate, West Sussex.[2][11]

References
  1. Tom Chesshyre (20 July 1996). "Faulds shoulders the burden of expectation". Independent. Independent News & Media. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  2. "Malcolm Cooper". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  3. "1974 Games". Team England.
  4. "1982 Athletes". Team England.
  5. "1986 Athletes". Team England.
  6. "1990 Athletes". Team England.
  7. "Athletes, 1974 England team". Team England.
  8. Richard Hide, house and shooting partner at RHS, Holbrook, UK 1959/60
  9. Alan Tovey (2 February 2015). "The company behind the rifle used by the world's deadliest sniper". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  10. "Malcolm Cooper obituary". The Guardian.
  11. "Obituaries - Malcolm Cooper". Telegraph Media Group Limited. 12 June 2001. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
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