Glasgow: Australian swimmer Isaac Cooper has stood himself down as a member of the Dolphins’ athlete leadership group after missing the final night of competition and the team’s closing meeting at the Commonwealth Games after a drinking session in Glasgow.
Four years after being sent home from a training camp in France over the “misuse of prescription medication”, this masthead can reveal Cooper has again found himself in trouble after an incident during the Games in Scotland.
Cooper was hauled in by team officials and spoken to by Australian head coach Rohan Taylor after failing to attend the final night of swimming competition at Glasgow’s Tollcross International Swimming Centre. Swimmers were expected to support teammates if they were not competing, before attending a final team wrap-up meeting that evening.
Other Australian swimmers were surprised when Cooper was absent from both, having raced in a relay heat earlier that day and, more significantly, because he had recently been appointed to the team’s athlete leadership group.
Three sources with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue, said Cooper was out drinking in Glasgow while his teammates were competing. He was also seen drinking at Australia’s team headquarters, a shared space used by athletes from all sports.
Cooper did not attend a training session the following day.
There is no rule precluding swimmers from drinking alcohol once their competition is finished. Athletes were permitted to drink at Australian headquarters and the Australian Commonwealth Games team did not have alcohol restrictions or curfews placed on athletes.
Cooper has travelled with the Australian team to the United States and remains eligible to compete at this month’s Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, which begin on August 12.
Australian swimming officials have decided they will not send Cooper home, meaning he will be free to compete at Pan Pacs. However, he will be monitored closely during his time in the USA.
This masthead sent a list of questions to Swimming Australia about Cooper, including whether he was out drinking when he should have been at the pool.
“Isaac did not attend the final night of the swimming competition or final team meeting in Glasgow which is in conflict with team expectations,” a Swimming Australia statement said. “Isaac has since voluntarily stood down from the team’s athlete leadership group.
“Swimming Australia will not be making any further comment on this issue. We look forward to watching Isaac compete at [this month’s] Pan Pacific Championships.”
The development is a setback for Cooper, who only days earlier had spoken of his pride at earning the trust of teammates after being sent home before the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham over behavioural issues.
The 22-year-old had rebuilt his standing within the Dolphins to become a member of the athlete leadership group, while Taylor recently praised his maturity and growth.
“He’s grown up in himself,” Taylor told this masthead last month. “He’s really worked on what it means to have a positive impact on the team. I’ve got a really strong relationship with Isaac and I’m very proud of the young man he is.”
Cooper said in an interview last month: “I didn’t think I had any chance of becoming a leader because I was so young and inexperienced. I figured that people would also be holding on to my past a little bit but I was very grateful that wasn’t the case.”
A two-time Olympian who specialises in backstroke events, Cooper was sent home in 2022 after giving teammates prescription medication.
Cooper believed he did not deserve to be sent back to Australia, but Taylor believed it was the right thing for him at the time.
“I had gone to the team doctor to get some sleeping medication,” Cooper said last month. “I had already been prescribed sleeping medication and this doctor prescribed me with a different medication, which had different effects.
“I also wasn’t really aware about the rules and restrictions around how to use the medication. I shared some of my medication with other teammates.”
Cooper won Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow as a heat swimmer in Australia’s men’s 4x100m medley relay and finished sixth in the 50m backstroke.
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Tom Decent is the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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