Iztok Cop

Hobbies

Spending time with his family, cross country skiing and cycling. (iztokcop.com, 22 Jan 2010)

Occupation

Athlete, Motivational Speaker

Education

Physical Education - University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, SLO

Family

Wife Petra, daughters, Ruby and Amber

Language(s) spoken

Slovene, English

Club name

VK Bled, Bled, SLO

Coach

Milos Jansa (SLO) (delo.si, 01 Sep 2011)

Position and style

Stroke (Athlete,, 01 Feb 2007)

Sporting relatives

He has competed at national level as a cross country skier and attempted to qualify for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. (Athlete, 01 Feb 2007; slovenskenovice.si, 20 Dec 2011)

Debut

1991 World Rowing Championships (iztokcop.com, 01 Feb 2011)

Injuries

After suffering from breathing problems in January 2007, he was diagnosed with a narrowed breathing channel and a swollen nose shell. He underwent surgery to fix the problem and was forced to take a break from training. (iztokcop.com, 15 Jan 2007)

In 1992 he suffered from salmonella poisoning which resulted in bone and muscle pain for the following four years. (Athlete, 25 Oct 2001)

Additional information

Start of sporting career
He started rowing in 1985 aged 13 in Bled. (Athlete, 01 Feb 2007)

Most memorable sporting achievement
Winning gold in the double sculls at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and the single sculls at the 1995 World Championships in Tampere, Finland. (Athlete, 01 Feb 2007)

Most influential person in career
His father. (Athlete, 25 Oct 2001)

Superstitions / Rituals
He likes to spend the last hour before a race relaxing by himself so he doesn't have to think about the challenge ahead. (worldrowing.com, 22 Jan 2010)

Awards
He and Luka Spik were named 2011 Rowers of the Year at the Slovenian Rowing Federation annual awards. (sport-tv.si, 20 Dec 2011)

He was nominated for the 2010 Thomas Keller award which is awarded for outstanding international achievement over a rower's career, but in November it was announced that he lost out to Australia's James Tomkin. (worldrowing.com, 10 May 2010, rudern.de, 10 Nov 2010)

In 2009 he was presented with the Order of Service by the president of Slovenia for "his great achievements in rowing". (iztokcop.com, 01 Feb 2011, up-rs.so, 24 Apr 2009)

He and partner Luka Spik were named the 2000, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Slovenian Team of the Year by the Association of Slovenian Sports Journalists. (Athlete, 01 Feb 2007)

Along with Spik, he was named in the 2005 FISA Male Crew of the Year. (iztokcop.com, 15 Jan 2007)

He was named Slovenia's Athlete of the Year in 1995 and Slovenia's Sports Personality of the Year in 2001. He was Slovenia's flag bearer at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. (iztokcop.com, 27 Mar 2003, NOC, 01 Sep 2000)

He was part of the coxless pairs team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona that won independent Slovenia's first Olympic medal. He then became the first Olympic gold medallist for independent Slovenia when he won the double sculls with Luka Spik at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. (slonews.sta.si, 02 Sep 2003)

He was awarded the Stonko Bloudek Recognition award in 1991 and 1992. The award is the most prestigious sporting award in Slovenia and is named after Bloudek, who was a prominent figure skater and helped establish the Yugoslavian Olympic Committee. (iztokcop.com, 01 Feb 2011, tms.si, 01 Feb 2011)

General
OLYMPIC COMMITTEES
The Slovenian National Olympic Committee nominated him to become a member of the International Olympic Committee's [IOC] Athlete's Commission. He is also a member of the executive board of Slovenia's National Olympic Committee, elected to the position in December 2006 and still serving in 2011. (iztokcop.com, 15 Jan 2007; worldrowing.com, 14 Dec 2007; rtvslo.si, 11 Oct 2011)

OWN COMPETITION
He started his own rowing competition, the Cop Challenger, in 1997. It is a 200m invitation sprint competition for scullers held in Ljubljana, Slovenia and designed to make rowing more interesting for spectators, media, and sponsors. (iztokcop.com, 27 Mar 2003)

FRIENDSHIP
He is good friends with Norwegian rower Olaf Tufte. The pair were ranked as the top two rowers in the world in 2010 but despite their fierce rivalry on the water have remained friends off it. "We're healthy rivals on the water. Off the water we got along very well. This is the main reason I keep going in the sport. . We can't avoid talking about rowing. Even if we try to change the subject it only lasts a minute or two and then it's back to rowing." In 2009 he also revealed that he had the president of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Turk, on speed dial on his phone. (worldrowing.com, 04 Aug 2009)

NORWEGIAN CAMEO
In 2010 he announced he would team up with his good friend Olaf Tufte to represent Norway in that year's World Cup events. As he was part of Tufte's club team in Norway he was allowed to represent the country despite having no direct affiliation there. (irishtimes.com, 21 May 2010)

Previous Olympics

Beijing 2008, Athens 2004, Sydney 2000, Atlanta 1996, Barcelona 1992