Michael GaultOBE (born 2 May 1954), is an English sport shooter. He has competed at the Commonwealth Games on six occasions winning eighteen medals, a record for athletes in any sport that he jointly holds with Australian shooter Phillip Adams, but has never been selected for the British Olympic team.[2][4][5] Gault also won two ISSF World Cup bronze medals whilst representing Great Britain.
In May 1994, Gault set two British records at the National Pistol Association meeting at Bisley. In the free pistol event he scored 570 ex600, surpassing Paul Leatherdale's record of 572. He also raised David Levene's record for centre-fire precision pistol by four points with a score of 296 ex300.[7]
Gault first competed at the Commonwealth Games during the 1994 event held in Victoria, Canada, representing England. He won three medals; gold in the men's free pistol with a score of 654.1; silver in the men's centre fire pistol, with a score of 581; and bronze in the men's pairs free pistol, where he and partner Paul Leatherdale scored a combined 1082.[8][4][9][10][11]
At the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Gault won four gold medals. He won the individual men's 50 metre free pistol and 10 metre air pistol events and partnered Nick Baxter to win the pairs competitions in the same two events.[8][4] He is one of only four English athletes to have won four gold medals at a single Commonwealth Games.[12]
In 2002 Gault competed at the ManchesterGames in his home country. He won three gold medals, successfully defending his titles in the individual 50 metre free pistol, individual 10 metre air pistol and pairs 10 metre air pistol with Nick Baxter, as well as a bronze medal in the men's individual 25 metre standard pistol.[8][4]
Gault competed in his fourth Commonwealth Games in 2006 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He won four medals, gold in the individual 25 metre standard pistol, silvers in the 50 metre free pistol and individual 10 metre air pistol and a bronze in the pairs 50 metre free pistol with Nick Baxter.[8][4] His third medal of the Games took him to a total of 14 Commonwealth Games medals, surpassing the record of 13 by an English athlete that had been set by swimmer Karen Pickering.[13][14] Following his achievement Gault carried the England flag during the closing ceremony.[5] He was appointed OBE in the 2008 New Year Honours.[15]
After the 2010 Games he announced his retirement from the sport, citing the media pressure surrounding his medal record attempt, but reversed his decision with the aim of competing at his first Olympics at the 2012 Games in London.[14] Gault achieved the qualifying mark for the free pistol event at the Olympics but was told by British Shooting that the only quota place available to Great Britain as the host nation was for the air pistol, an event in which he had not achieved the required qualification score. Under Olympic rules Gault would have been able to compete in both events if selected for the British team but despite former minister for SportKate Hoey petitioning on his behalf he was not selected.[2][17]
Gault returned to the England team for the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland. He led the 10 metre air pistol event after 13 shots but eventually finished third with a score of 176.5. The bronze medal tied him with Adams record of 18. however Gault holds 9 Golds to Adams holding 7 Gold.[8][4][5] Competing in the 50 metre pistol event he had an opportunity to break the medal record but finished 13th in the qualification round and missed out on the final.[18] After being eliminated from the event he announced his retirement for the second time. On 25 December 2014 Gault suffered a minor stroke and has never shot since.[19]
^"Gault flying high with Bisley best". Sunday Telegraph. 29 May 1994. p. 92. Mick Gault, an RAF sergeant ... produced a personal best of 570 out of 600 in the free pistol event at the National Pistol Association meeting at Bisley. His score was eight points better than the record set last year by Commonwealth Games partner Paul Leatherdale ...... Gault also broke the NPA record for centre fire precision with 296 out of 300, raising David Levene's 1985 mark by four points.
^Nick Robinson (20 August 1994). "Hot shots grab the medals". Manchester Evening News. p. 45. Carol Page and Margaret Thomas, in the pairs sport pistols, and Michael Gault and Paul Leatherdale in the pairs free pistol, added a couple of bronze medals to England's account.
^"Gold turns to bronze". The Observer. 21 August 1994. p. 53. Carol Page and Margaret Thomas, in the pairs sport pistols and Michael Gault and Paul Leatherdale in the pairs free pistol added a couple of bronze medals to England's account.
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