Stephanie Charlene Cooper-FosterMBE (born 2 September 1958), best known under her maiden name Stephanie Foster, is a former New Zealand rower.
Early life
Foster was born in 1958 in Morrinsville, a provincial town in the Waikato region of New Zealand.[1] She was involved in many sports. After her family moved to Auckland, she attended Papakura High School.[2]
Rowing career
Foster had a cousin who was a rower. She listened with her parents to the radio of the 1972 New Zealand eight winning gold at the Munich Olympics. Soon after, she was asked to try rowing because a team was one rower short. She agreed and joined the Auckland Rowing Club.[2]
She married the rower Brett Cooper while she was still competing internationally. She uses her married name apart from rowing, where she goes by her maiden name. They have two sons who also took up rowing. The family lived for three decades at Lake Rotoiti followed by a short stint in Gore, before settling in Wedderburn in the 2020s.[2]