Richard Faulds

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Olympic medal record
Men's Shooting
Gold 2000 Sydney Men's double trap

Richard Faulds MBE (born 15 May 1977 in Surrey),[1] is an English sport shooter, who competed for Great Britain in the 2000 Summer Olympics and won the Men's Double Trap.

Born into a family who then ran a stud farm in Sussex,[2] Faulds was then raised on the 300 acre family owned Owl's Lodge Farm in the Hampshire village of Longparish.[3] On his tenth birthday, Faulds father Bruce bought him some shooting lessons, with Richard hitting 17 out of 25 clays in his first attempt. His father built him a range on the family farm, but just before finishing third in his first world junior championship, his PE teacher said that his hand-eye co-ordination was very poor. It was discovered that Faulds suffered from a weak left eye, which was corrected by special dot-to-dot exercises with such good effect that he now shoots left-handed and competes for the East Yorkshire Gun Club.[4]

Faulds competed internationally for Britain at the age of 13, and was a world junior champion when he was 16.[2] Three years later, Faulds competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games finishing fifth, and became the 1997 European champion.[5] After working at the West London Gun Club for three years as an instructor,[6] Faulds became a fulltime shooter, and qualified for the 2000 Sydney games after shooting a then double trap world record score at a World Cup meeting held again in Atlanta, Georgia. Faulds shot a then Olympic record total of 143 in the preliminary round, and won his Olympic gold medal after a shoot-off at the Sydney International Shooting Centre, to become Britain’s first shooting gold medal-winner since Malcolm Cooper in 1988.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Faulds came 13th in the double trap event, losing his title to Ahmed Al Maktoum from the United Arab Emirates, who won the first ever Olympic medal for his country.[7]

Current world records held in Double Trap
Men Qualification 147 Flag of Australia Michael Diamond (AUS)
Flag of the United Kingdom Richard Faulds (GBR)		 July 19, 1998
June 8, 2008		 Barcelona (ESP)
Suhl (GER)		 edit

[edit] References

  1. ^ Richard Faulds. British Olympic Association. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
  2. ^ a b Michael Phillips (June 8, 2004). Faulds seeks double gold in double trap. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
  3. ^ Ronald Atkin (December 24, 2000). Shooter Richard Faulds - Long-term aim, short. The Independent. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
  4. ^ Faulds shoots to gold for Britain. The Times (September 20, 2000). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  5. ^ Faulds sets sights on proving he merits his golden memories. The Times (April 26, 2003). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  6. ^ Marcus Atkin (1 May, 2001). Trigger happy Faulds on trail of second Olympic gold. The Telegraph. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  7. ^ Shooter Almaktoum wins UAE's first gold at Athens Olympics. People's Daily Online (August 18, 2004). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Olympic medalists in shooting | Olympic Champions in men's Double Trap
Russell Mark | Richard Faulds | Ahmed Al Maktoum


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