Richard Faulds

Richard Bruce Faulds MBE (born 15 May, 1977 in Guildford, Surrey), [citeweb|url=http://www.olympics.org.uk/athleterecord.aspx?at=1237|title=Richard Faulds|publisher=British Olympic Association|accessdate=2008-01-21] 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,citeweb|url=http://sport.guardian.co.uk/athens2004/story/0,,1233806,00.html|title=Faulds seeks double gold in double trap|publisher=The Guardian|author=Michael Phillips|date=June 8, 2004|accessdate=2008-01-21] Faulds was then raised on the 300 acre family owned Owl's Lodge Farm in the Hampshire village of Longparish. [citeweb|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001224/ai_n14347180|title=Shooter Richard Faulds - Long-term aim, short|publisher=The Independent|author=Ronald Atkin|date=December 24, 2000|accessdate=2008-01-21] 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. [citeweb|url=http://www.times-olympics.co.uk/archive/shoots20o.html|title=Faulds shoots to gold for Britain|publisher=The Times|date=September 20, 2000|accessdate=2008-01-20]

Faulds competed internationally for Britain at the age of 13, and was a world junior champion when he was 16. Three years later, Faulds competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games finishing fifth, and became the 1997 European champion. [citeweb|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article867894.ece|title=Faulds sets sights on proving he merits his golden memories|publisher=The Times|date=April 26, 2003|accessdate=2008-01-20] After working at the West London Gun Club for three years as an instructor, [citeweb|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2001/04/30/somarc01.xml|title=Trigger happy Faulds on trail of second Olympic gold|publisher=The Telegraph|author=Marcus Atkin|date=1 May, 2001|accessdate=2008-01-20] 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. [citeweb|url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200408/17/eng20040817_153467.html|title=Shooter Almaktoum wins UAE's first gold at Athens Olympics|publisher=People's Daily Online|date=August 18, 2004|accessdate=2008-01-20]

Faulds and his wife Tanya (also a shooter) live in the Meon Valleyalong with their young son, Charlie. [http://www.shootingtimes.co.uk/features/266110/Beijing_2008_Olympic_hopefuls.html]

Olympic results

Records

External links

* [http://www.olympics.org.uk/athleterecord.aspx?at=1237 Richard Faulds profile] at the British Olympic Association
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/southampton/sport/2004/olympics_faulds.shtml Richard Faulds profile at BBC Hampshire]

References