Britain's Olympic golden shot

Ian Chadband13 April 2012

It may not have been Wembley but, in a sudden death climax as compelling as anything international football could provide, golden shot Richard Faulds kept his nerve here rather better than Gareth Southgate ever did to win Britain's second title of these Olympics.

In silencing a noisy home crowd with the icy precision of his marksmanship in shooting's equivalent of the penalty shoot-out, the 23-year-old farmer's son from Andover was not alone in believing he had helped resuscitate a sport whose image has been mud ever since the Dunblane tragedy.

When Faulds and Australia's defending champion, Russell Mark, could not be separated after both had hit 187 targets from 200 shots in the double trap event, they glanced across the range at each other and nodded with pale smiles. For, now, it all came down to a shoot-off and the first to lose his nerve would forfeit the title.

For a change, it was a pleasure to report after so much home-town gloating, it was the Australian who cracked under the weight of expectation, allowing the British shooters to cheer their first gold medal since Malcolm "Cooperman" Cooper in Seoul 12 years ago and their second in Sydney following Ian Peel's silver in the Olympic trap event.

Even sports minister Kate Hoey, an amateur marksman herself, did a little jig of celebration after seeing a man with whom she has shared a range in the past shedding a tear on the medal podium. "Can't believe it - someone slap me," said Faulds. "This is just a dream come true."

Then, as he pondered the drama of an event in which he had seemed down and out only a few shots before he took the gold, the quiet, unassuming fellow who works as an instructor at a London shooting club added: "I never gave up to the end, but you wouldn't want it any more dramatic than that. It's not good for my pacemaker, you know."

Under that sort of pressure and up against a crowd of 5,000 Aussies, you would have been hard pressed to hit an elephant let alone two tiny flying saucer-shaped targets flying at different angles out of a trap. Yet, after a couple of minutes waiting anxiously between the final and the shoot-off, Faulds reckoned his shotgun arms never wavered, unlike earlier in the day when he had faltered while Mark could hardly miss.

The shoot-off format was designed for drama. Each shooter was to get two shots within a split second to hit two targets. Normally, they would expect to hit both, so when Mark stepped up and missed one of his pair, Faulds was handed the chance of a lifetime to take the gold.

Instead, he gave Mark a reprieve by hitting only one as well.

"I thought, 'That's it, it's not my day'," he said. "It was the perfect chance and I'd blown it but I was desperate not to let down all those back home who'd supported me."

Among them was the sports psychologist, Peter Terry, whom he had credited with instilling steel into him. Perhaps, Mark could have done with his help because he then stepped up and missed another target - something he had done with alarming regularity in the closing stages of the final which had enabled Faulds to claw his way back.

This time, left-hander Faulds sent both targets disappearing in a puff of pink smoke, prompting him to turn and pump his arm in the air in triumph.

It marked the culmination of a long journey for a man who had begun the sport as a 10-year-old who followed his dad's interest in shooting. The home crowd were stunned almost into silence. Faulds had not only beaten their man but beaten them, too.

"It was a home crowd supporting a home shooter and even with the mufflers on, I had to block it all out as best I could. But it was very difficult," he said.

The victory, though, sparked celebrations from those in a sport which has almost been on its knees since Dunblane.

"You can't describe what this win will do for the image of the sport," said the team's assistant coach, James Mair. "The people in shooting were as devastated as everyone else about what happened at Dunblane but a lunatic put a hell of a title on us.

"A lot of shooters felt like giving up but most like Richard, true amateurs, kept plugging away."

Faulds, who still lives on the farm with his parents Bruce and Sue, recalled: "I felt the ache like everyone else after Dunblane but life had to go on."

Backed by more lottery funding this year, he had always felt he had a chance to improve on his fourth place at Atlanta 1996 when he was still as teenager.

Sports minister Hoey was particularly thrilled for him. "Richard's a nice guy," she said. "I've shot with him in some events for a bit of fun and I'm delighted for shooting because the sport has been through a very difficult time because of the opposition from the anti-gun lobby.

"I think competition shooting has been pretty misunderstood. It's about sportsmen who are as dedicated and professional as any."

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