He is a national champion, dual Olympian and two-time World Champion who achieved success as a member of Australia's "Oarsome Foursome" in 1991 and 1992. Cooper's senior rowing was with the Mercantile Rowing Club in Melbourne and he was selected to train at the Australian Institute of Sport from 1986. Cooper competed at the National Regatta in Mercantile colours in coxless pair and in coxed and coxless four from 1986 to 1988 and in 1990.

[3] Cooper's first national representative selection was to the 1985 Match des Seniors in Banyoles Spain – the equivalent at the time of today's World Rowing U23 Championships.

[4] That same crew represented Australia in the men's eight selected for the 1985 Trans-Tasman U/23 regatta held on Lake Ruataniwha New Zealand.

In 1991 Cooper was in the Australian coxless four who won gold at the 1991 World Rowing Championships in Vienna along with Nick Green, Mike McKay, and James Tomkins.

At the 1995 World Rowing Championships in Tampere Finland, the Oarsome Foursome represented again as a Coxless four seated as they'd been at Vienna and Barcelona.