Richard Faulds

Olympic medal record
Men's shooting
Gold 2000 Sydney Double trap

Richard Bruce Faulds MBE (born 15 May 1977 in Guildford, 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 (1.2 km2) 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.[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 Olympics 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.[7]

Faulds and his wife Tanya (also a shooter) live in the Meon Valley along with their young son, Charlie.[8]

In 2010 Richard and Tanya opened Owls Lodge Shooting School[9] near Barton Stacey. The ground contains Sporting, Olympic trap, Double trap, Olympic skeet, Universal trench and Down-The-Line layouts.

Contents

Olympic results

Event 1996 2000 2004 2008
Double trap 5th
139+41		 Gold
141+46		 13th
130		 6th
137+43

Records

Current world records held in Double Trap
Men Qualification 148  Vitaly Fokeev (RUS) March 3,2011 Concepcion (CHI) edit

External links

References

  1. ^ "Richard Faulds". British Olympic Association. http://www.olympics.org.uk/athleterecord.aspx?at=1237. Retrieved 21 January 2008. 
  2. ^ a b Michael Phillips (8 June 2004). "Faulds seeks double gold in double trap". London: The Guardian. http://sport.guardian.co.uk/athens2004/story/0,,1233806,00.html. Retrieved 21 January 2008. 
  3. ^ Ronald Atkin (24 December 2000). "Shooter Richard Faulds – Long-term aim, short". The Independent. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001224/ai_n14347180. Retrieved 21 January 2008. 
  4. ^ "Faulds shoots to gold for Britain". The Times. 20 September 2000. http://www.times-olympics.co.uk/archive/shoots20o.html. Retrieved 20 January 2008. 
  5. ^ Powell, David (26 April 2003). "Faulds sets sights on proving he merits his golden memories". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article867894.ece. Retrieved 20 January 2008. 
  6. ^ Marcus Atkin (1 May 2001). "Trigger happy Faulds on trail of second Olympic gold". London: The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2001/04/30/somarc01.xml. Retrieved 20 January 2008. 
  7. ^ "Shooter Almaktoum wins UAE's first gold at Athens Olympics". People's Daily Online. 18 August 2004. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200408/17/eng20040817_153467.html. Retrieved 20 January 2008. 
  8. ^ http://www.shootingtimes.co.uk/features/266110/Beijing_2008_Olympic_hopefuls.html
  9. ^ Owls Lodge Shooting School
1996: Russell Mark • 2000: Richard Faulds • 2004: Ahmed Al Maktoum • 2008: Walton Eller