Background
Goulding was born in Hartpury, Gloucestershire to a rich farming family.
Goulding was born in Hartpury, Gloucestershire to a rich farming family.
He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. He later emigrated to South Africa and settled on the Natal coast. 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In the final he faced only Thomas Curtis of the United States after two other finallists had withdrawn.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 been decisive.
Although he gained ground on Curtis after halfway, he could not close the gap. 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".
In the 1984 National Broadcasting Company miniseries, The First Olympics: Athens 1896, he was portrayed as being very pompous and having a habit of taking his opponents (especially the Americans) very lightly. He exhibited such poor sportsmanship that British officials (and Pierre de Coubertin) came to resent him. When he finished the 110 Metre Hurdles final, he was booed raucously by the crowd and pelted with fruit.
He died in Umkomaas, Natal, South Africa in 1947.