Grantley Goulding

Grantley Thomas Smart Goulding (March 23, 1874 in Hartpury, Gloucestershire – 1944 in Umkomaas, Natal, South Africa) was a British athlete. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Personal life

Grantley Goulding was born into a rich Gloucestershire farming family. He later emigrated to South Africa and settled on the Natal coast.

Olympic career

Grantley Goulding established a local reputation in the Gloucestershire area when he won a number of races in the 1895 season. In a meeting at Gloucester he defeated the visiting South African champion but was less successful at the AAA championship where he finished last in his heat.

Goulding competed in the 110 metre hurdles in Athens. He finished in first place in his preliminary heat with a time of 18.4 seconds, advancing to the final. In the final he faced only Thomas Curtis of the United States after two other finallists had withdrawn. A stumble from Goulding at the start of the race appears to have decisive; although he gained ground on Curtis after halfway, he could not close the gap. At the end of the race, the officials declared that Curtis had won by a margin of a mere 5 centimetres. Both finished in 17.6 seconds. In 1932, Curtis wrote in The Sportsman that Goulding "stopped neither to linger or say farewell, but went straight from the stadium to the station and took the first train out of Athens".

References

* (Digitally available at [http://www.aafla.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1896/1896.pdf] )