Richard Faulds

Richard Faulds in 2009

Richard Bruce Faulds MBE (born 16 March 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 full-time 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]

Apart from his Olympic career he has also won numerous titles in the sport of English Sporting Clays and FITASC, both of which closely replicate the flight characteristics of live quarry species. His first World title came as a Junior in the FITASC discipline in 1993, a feat he repeated in 94,95 and 96 while also collecting Junior World Sporting titles in 1994 and 1995. Since joining the ranks of the Senior Class he has won the World Sporting Championships four times, (2000, 2002, 2006, 2008) the World FITASC Championship four times (2002, 2005, 2007, 2008) and the Beretta World Sporting Championship five times (1998, 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2010).

In addition he has also taken numerous domestic titles including the English Open Sporting (1993, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008) and the British Open Sporting (1998, 2005).

Richard and Tanya, also a successful shooter in her own right live near Newbury in Berkshire along with their young son, Charlie and daughter Lauren.^[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.

In 2011, Faulds won individual silver and team gold in the double trap at the European Shooting Championships in Serbia.^[10]

Olympic results

Event	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012
Double trap	5th 139+41	1 ! Gold 141+46	13th 130	6th 137+43	12th 133

Records

Current world records held in Double Trap
Men	Qualification	148	Vitaly Fokeev (RUS)  Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (IND)  Peter Wilson (GBR)	March 3, 2011 November 27, 2011 March 28, 2012	Concepcion (CHI) Kuala Lumpur (MAS) Tucson (USA)

References

External links

• Richard Faulds profile at the British Olympic Association
• Richard Faulds profile at BBC Hampshire