Wouda grew up in Uden, where he joined the 'De Zeester' swimming club at a very young age. His trainers were Martien Swinkels and Rob Kennis, who brought him to the top of Dutch swimming. Wouda made his Olympic debut at the 1992 Summer Olympics, where he was the sole male in the Dutch squad of eight females ending 22nd in the 200 m individual medley and 19th in the 400 m individual medley. Afterwards he moved to the United States, where he joined University of Michigan in Ann Arbor under the guidance of trainer-coach Jon Urbanchek, alongside swimmers like Eric Namesnik, Gustavo Borges and Tom Dolan. At the 1993 European Aquatics Championships in Sheffield he won the bronze medal in the 400 m individual medley. Two years after he left Wouda moved back to the Netherlands, where trainer-coach Jacco Verhaeren brought him back to the top. Wouda got his second Olympic selection when he qualified for the 1996 Summer Olympics. There he finished in 4th place in the 200 m individual medley, 5th place in the 400 m individual medley, and 7th place in 4×200 m freestyle. At the 1997 European Aquatics Championships he became European champion in the 200 m and 400 m individual medley and won a silver medal in the 4×200 m freestyle together with Pieter van den Hoogenband, Mark van der Zijden and Martijn Zuijdweg. At the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Western Australia, Australia Wouda became world champion in the 200 m individual medley and won two silver medals in the 400 m individual medley and the 4×200 m freestyle relay alongside Van den Hoogenband, Van der Zijden and Zuijdweg. In April 1999 at the 1999 FINA World Swimming Championships in Hong Kong, China Wouda won four medals. He became world champion in the 4×200 m freestyle alongside Pieter van den Hoogenband, Johan Kenkhuis and Martijn Zuijdweg. He won silver medals in the 400 m individual medley and the 4×100 m freestyle together with Mark Veens, Johan Kenkhuis and Pieter van den Hoogenband, in the 200 m individual medley he won a bronze medal. In the summer of 1999 Wouda took part in the 1999 European Aquatics Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. He successfully defended his title in the 200 m individual medley and won the relay titles in the 4×100 m freestyle, with Kenkhuis, Veens and van den Hoogenband, and the 4×100 m medley with Klaas-Erik Zwering, Stefan Aartsen and van den Hoogenband. He also won the bronze medal in the 400 m individual medley. On the road to the Sydney Olympics Wouda took part in the 2000 European Aquatics Championships in Helsinki, Finland where he won a bronze medal in the 4×200 m freestyle together with Martijn Zuijdweg, Mark van der Zijden and Pieter van den Hoogenband. Wouda won a bronze medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia alongside Martijn Zuijdweg, Johan Kenkhuis and Pieter van den Hoogenband. Individually he ended 5th in the 200 m individual medley and 13th in the 100 m breaststroke. With the 4×100 m medley team he ended 4th just missing out for a medal alongside Klaas-Erik Zwering, Joris Keizer and Pieter van den Hoogenband. In the aftermath of the Sydney Olympics Wouda resigned from swimming. Six months later a journalist from Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, Mark Hoogstad, wrote a book describing the resurrection of Dutch swimming at the hand of Wouda's career.
Coaching career
Wouda was the head coach of Dutch junior swimming for two years, before being named assistant-coach of Verhaeren in Eindhoven, in October 2006. He guided Maarten van der Weijden to his world title in the 25 km and the Olympic title in the 10 km. He is also the coach of Hinkelien Schreuder who was part of the Dutch golden 4×100 m freestyle team and reached an individual 7th place in the 50 m freestyle at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
