THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT Andrew Cooper Andrew Cooper had gone to Brighton Grammar School in Melbourne. He had been a member of their victorious 1983 Head of the River crew6396 and a member of 1984 Silver Medal Australian U-23 Eight with Mike McKay.6397 1991 Yallop: “[In 1991] the four had resolved to pace themselves in that year’s [training], saving themselves for the 1992 Olympics. On the water they were getting away with training sessions of twelve kilometres, where most of their competitors would do twenty.6398”6399 At the Worlds in Vienna, the Oarsome Foursome, as they were by then universally known, took the lead within 300 meters of the start and had the race won by the 1,000. Green: “We had won convincingly on very little training, and it gave us a lot of confidence that when we did train properly for the Olympics, we would do very well.”6400 1992 By the end of 1991, Sam Patten had passed his medical exams and was ready to return to the four, but the decision was made to stay with Cooper.6401 Meanwhile, James Tomkins was coaching 16-year-old Drew Ginn at Scotch College Melbourne. In 1992, the selection procedures originally set up by Reinhold Batschi were 6396 Ibid, pp. 14, 77 6397 Ibid, p. 79 6398 seven versus twelve miles. 6399 Ibid, p. 106 6400 Ibid, p. 109 6401 Ibid, p. 110 ff really put to the test. As two-time defending World Champions, the MRC/MUBC Coxless-Four was selected early so that the rest of the heavyweight men’s squad could focus on a competitive eight. At their first European regatta in Lucerne, the selected four continued its winning ways, while the selected double of Antonie and Hawkins was finishing a close second in their event. Then the wheels fell off for the Oarsome Foursome. Yallop: “They were de-railed two weeks later in Amsterdam. No-one had been particularly keen to race in the regatta for fear of getting stale before the Olympics, and McKay and Cooper were both suffering from the oppressive heat.”6402 Tomkins: “We had four races and lost all four. We came fourth in a couple of races, and the Canadians and the Dutch beat us, as well as the Americans.6403 The harder we tried, the slower we went. All of a sudden, the Olympic dream had dissolved. Mentally, we were shattered.”6404 Nick Green: “Amsterdam was the first time anyone had beaten us in three years. We didn’t want to go because we were tired and we’d left ourselves vulnerable where we shouldn’t have. It gave the Americans the opportunity to put the boot into us.”6405 Post-Lucerne Poke: “Coach Noel Donaldson and head coach Reinhold Batschi hatched a three- point plan in a bid to regain both initiative and momentum: the Foursome would now use cleaver blades [just introduced]; they would ‘get away from it all’ at a camp in 6402 Ibid, p. 117 6403 See Chapter 132. 6404 Yallop, p. 117 6405 Ibid, pp. 118-9 1773
