THE CHARISMATIC rowing coach behind Oxford’s most successful period in the history of the Boat Race has died aged 69.

Dan Topolski, had already been an Oxford Blue himself, rowed in the 1967 and 1968 races, and was a world gold medalist, but before taking up coaching in 1973.

It was the beginning of what would become a golden era for the Oxford University Boat Club, and he completely reformed it which included 10 successive wins from 1976 to 1985.

The Dark Blues had won just 12 races since the First World War, but were victorious in 12 of the 15 races that Mr Topolski coached them.

His uncompromising style and brutal training regimes, though, led to the ‘Oxford Mutiny’ of 1987.

The affair was one that brought the Oxford University Boat Club to its knees and set Oxford tradition against American big-star sportsmanship.

Cambridge had won the previous year, but Mr Topolski wanted one more Dark Blues victory before he retired.

He assembled an exceptionally- talented team, which included five international-class Americans.

But the group rebelled against his training programme, his selection process and, most importantly, against the authority of Oxford University Boat Club president Donald Macdonald.

One of the Americans, Chris Clark, reportedly said at the time: “These guys are the best. We don’t need to train. We are so good we could just turn up on the day and beat Cambridge.”

The dispute quickly grew out of proportion and went from involving other oarsmen to the world media, culminating in leader columns which only served to increase tensions.

Finally the whole crew went on strike, leaving Macdonald rowing in a pair and with no crew to face Cambridge five weeks before race day.

But Mr Topolski got another crew together and, against all odds, they defeated their vastly stronger rivals.

In an interview some months later with The Oxford Times, Mr Topolski recalled: “It’s such an extraordinary story that it goes far beyond a sports event.

“It’s about the little guy standing up against powerful international athletes, tradition against modern values in sport, with all the Oxford common-room drama behind the scenes.”

He would later say: “I deal with whoever turns up and work with who is there. These outstanding rowers just happened to be there in 1986-87.

“[The Americans] were good athletes who underestimated the training requirements for the Boat Race, which is extraordinarily difficult and the rough and tumble and unpredictable sort of race. There is nothing in the world like it.”

The events were immortalised in Mr Topolski’s best-selling book, True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny.

It was voted William Hill Sports Book of the Year and turned into a film of the same name., True Blue, in which Dominic West portrayed Mr MacDonald Daniel Topolski was born on June 4, 1945, to Polish parents Feliks Topolski, an artist, and actress Marian Everall.

He got his first glimpse of the Boat Race aged seven, when on a race day he was in the studio of artist Julian Trevelyan by the Thames in Chiswick.

A pupil at the French Lycée and Westminster College, he went on to read geography at New College, Oxford.

Mr Topolski won a gold medal at the 1977 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, in the lightweight eights.

After his successful period coaching the Dark Blues, he retired in 1987 and became a commentator for the BBC at the Boat Race.

Dan Topolski died on February 21 after a long period of illness. He is survived by his wife Susan Gilmore and three children.