Wouda was born in
Tilburg and 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 with 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. 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 relay 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==