Richard Bruce Faulds MBE (born 16 March 1977 in Guildford, Surrey), 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, Faulds was then raised on the 300-acre (1.2 km) family owned Owl’s Lodge Farm in the Hampshire village of Longparish. 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. 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 Olympics finishing fifth, and became the 1997 European champion. After working at the West London Gun Club for three years as an instructor, 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.

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