Matthew Cooper

A former Derby School pupil, Matt Cooper was still at school when he was in the Derby Rowing Club coxless four that beat Christiania Roklub of Norway to win the Wyfold Challenge Cup at Henley in 1965. A team-mate that day was Andy Bayles, and the two would team-up again on the water after they both went to Imperial College at London University.

The two Derby men each got a seat in the highly successful University eights and in 1968 they won the coveted Grand Challenge Cup at Henley by beating Oxford University in the final. Cooper and the London eight represented Great Britain at the Mexico Olympics a few months later.

Cooper made a second Olympic appearance in 1972 when he took part in the coxless pairs with Jerry McCarthy. They reached the semi-final but failed to make the final after finishing fifth (of six). Cooper later lived in Australia, where he died in 2015 at the age of 67.