scholarship to Miami University, but was unable to enrol as he had not finished his secondary education in Australia. At the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, he was upset in the 100 m backstroke by fellow Australian Mark Tonelli and finished third, but set a new Australian record in the 200 m backstroke to win gold. In the freestyle events, he managed a silver in the 400 m, three seconds outside his best, and finished last in the 1500 m freestyle, one minute slower than his best. He then won the 400 m freestyle and 200 m backstroke at the Australian Championships, and then retired, saying that "I was sick of the daily grind". Cooper later worked in periods in the newspaper industry as a journalist, as well as becoming a swimming coach and building his own swim centre. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1990, and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1994. He received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000. In 2009 Cooper was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame. Cooper's memoir, The Finest Gold: The Making of an Olympic Swimmer, was published by Scribe in 2018. See also List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men) List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men) World record progression 400 metres freestyle World record progression 800 metres freestyle Notes References External links Brad Cooper at the International Swimming Hall of Fame 1954 births Living people Sportspeople from Rockhampton Olympic swimmers of Australia Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Australia World record setters in swimming Australian male backstroke swimmers Australian male freestyle swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming People educated at Brisbane State High School Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Sportsmen from Queensland Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Medallists at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games