Michael Bull (born 11 September 1946, Belfast, Northern Ireland) [1] is a retired male pole vaulter and decathlete from Northern Ireland. He set his personal best in the pole vault (5.25 metres) on 22 September 1973 at a meet in London.
Bull first achieved success in 1966, winning silver for the pole vault at the Commonwealth Games. [2] Then in 1970, he won gold at the Commonwealth Games.[ citation needed ] He appeared in 69 internationals for Great Britain and Northern Ireland [ citation needed ] and captained the team on numerous[ quantify ] occasions.[ citation needed ] In 1991, he won the World Masters (over 40) pole vault in Finland.[ citation needed ]
Upon retirement from professional athletics, Bull lectured on sports studies[ citation needed ] and provided sports commentary for UTV (Ulster Television).[ citation needed ] He opened his own gym in Dufferin Avenue, Bangor, County Down (Northern Ireland), Mike Bull's Health Gym[ citation needed ] (now Paul's Gym), and was a fitness adviser for the Irish Rugby Football Union.[ citation needed ]
In 2012, Dr Mike Bull was awarded the OBE by the Queen for services to sport and charity. [3]
In 2014, Mike Bull was awarded the accolade of "Britain's Greatest Ever Pole-vaulter" in World renowned athletics magazine Athletics Weekly by leading statistician Mel Watman.[ citation needed ]
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event |
---|---|---|---|---|
1966 | British Empire and Commonwealth Games | Kingston, Jamaica | 2nd | Pole vault |
1969 | European Championships | Athens, Greece | 7th | Pole vault |
1970 | European Indoor Championships | Vienna, Austria | 7th | Pole vault |
British Commonwealth Games | Edinburgh, Scotland | 1st | Pole vault | |
1972 | European Indoor Championships | Grenoble, France | 6th | Pole vault |
1974 | British Commonwealth Games | Christchurch, New Zealand | 2nd | Pole vault |
1st | Decathlon | |||
1978 | Commonwealth Games | Edmonton, Canada | NM | Pole vault |
The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, have successively run every four years since. The event was called the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, and British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. Athletes with a disability are included as full members of their national teams since 2002, making the Commonwealth Games the first fully inclusive international multi-sport event. In 2018, the Games became the first global multi-sport event to feature an equal number of men's and women's medal events and four years later they became the first global multi-sport event to have more events for women than men.
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