Mike Bull

Last updated

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.

Contents

Career

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 ]

Honours

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 ]

Achievements

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEvent
1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Kingston, Jamaica 2ndPole vault
1969 European Championships Athens, Greece 7thPole vault
1970 European Indoor Championships Vienna, Austria 7thPole vault
British Commonwealth Games Edinburgh, Scotland 1stPole vault
1972 European Indoor Championships Grenoble, France 6thPole vault
1974 British Commonwealth Games Christchurch, New Zealand2ndPole vault
1stDecathlon
1978 Commonwealth Games Edmonton, Canada NMPole vault

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commonwealth Games</span> Multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daley Thompson</span> English decathlete

Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson,, better known as Daley Thompson, is a British former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four times. He was unbeaten in competition for nine years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sally Gunnell</span> British track and field athlete

Sally Jane Janet Gunnell is a British former track and field athlete, active between 1984 and 1997, who won the 1992 Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles. During a golden 24-month period between 1992 and 1994, Gunnell won every international event open to her, claiming Olympic Games, World Championship, European Championship, Commonwealth Games, Goodwill Games, IAAF World Cup and European Cup golds in the event, and breaking the British, European and World records in it. She is the only female British athlete to have won all four 'majors'; Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles, and was the first female 400 metres hurdler in history to win the Olympic and World titles and break the world record. Her former world record time of 52.74 secs in 1993, still ranks in the world all-time top ten and is the current British record. She was named World and European Female Athlete of the Year in 1993, and was made an MBE in 1993 and an OBE in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Jackson</span> British hurdler

Colin Ray Jackson, is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became world champion twice, world indoor champion once, was undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and was twice Commonwealth champion. His world record of 12.91 seconds for the 110 m hurdles stood for over 10 years and his 60 metres hurdles world record stood for nearly 27 years.

Leslie Roy Mills is a retired New Zealand track and field athlete and politician. He represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games over two decades, competing in the shot put and discus throw. He won a total of five medals at the Commonwealth Games including gold in the discus at the 1966 Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Peters (athlete)</span> British pentathlete

Lady Mary Elizabeth Peters, is a Northern Irish former athlete, best known as a competitor in the pentathlon and shot put. Peters was named as Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter on 27 February 2019. She was installed in St. George's Chapel, the chapel of the Order, on Garter Day, 17 June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reg Empey</span> Northern Ireland politician (born 1947)

Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey,, best known as Reg Empey, is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland, who was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010. He was the chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2012 to 2019. Empey was also twice Lord Mayor of Belfast and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iwan Thomas</span> British sprinter (born 1974)

Iwan Gwyn Thomas is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European, Commonwealth Games and World champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kriss Akabusi</span> British athlete

Kezie Uchechukwu Duru Akabusi, MBE, known as Kriss Akabusi, is a British former sprint and hurdling track and field athlete.

Michael Scott Tully is an American pole vaulter. He represented the United States twice in the Olympics, earning a silver in 1984, and held the American pole vault record from 1984 to 1985.

Michael Anthony McFarlane OBE is a British athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres and 200 metres. He won an Olympic silver medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and was the 200 m gold medallist at the 1982 Commonwealth Games and a 60 metres gold medallist at the 1985 European Athletics Indoor Championships. McFarlane won two further sprint medals at the 1986 Commonwealth Games.

Michael 'Mike' Archer Winch is a male retired British shot putter.

Donald Carthew Oliver was a New Zealand weightlifter and fitness centre founder. He represented his country at three Olympic Games, and won two Commonwealth medals, including gold in 1966 in Kingston.

Brian Roger Leslie Hooper in Sheerwater, Woking, Surrey is a former British Olympic pole vaulter, athletics coach and winner of the 1982 World Superstars Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethany Firth</span> Paralympic swimmer from Northern Ireland

Bethany Charlotte Firth, is a Northern Irish swimmer. Since 2014 she has competed for Great Britain; previously, Firth had represented Ireland. A six time Paralympic gold medalist, she has won gold in her specialist event - the 100 metres backstroke - for both Ireland at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and Great Britain at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics. These were in addition to the Mixed 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay S14 at the 2020 Games, and 200 metres medley and 200 metres freestyle for Great Britain at the 2016 Games, where she was the nation's most successful Paralympian with three golds and a silver medal. She competes in the S14 classification for athletes with an intellectual impairment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Cutts</span> British pole vaulter

Luke Cutts is a British pole vaulter. His personal best of 5.83 m set in 2014 is the British indoor record for the event. His outdoor best of 5.70 m puts him third on the all-time British lists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sally Peake</span> British pole vaulter

Sally Peake is a British track and field athlete who specialises in the pole vault. She has a personal best of 4.40 m for the event, which is a Welsh record. She was the silver medallist in the pole vault at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhys McClenaghan</span> Northern Irish artistic gymnast

Rhys Joshua McClenaghan is a Northern Irish artistic gymnast competing internationally for both Northern Ireland and Ireland. He is the 2022 world champion on pommel horse, the first Irish artistic gymnast ever to win world championship gold. He is a two-time European champion and a Commonwealth Games champion on the same apparatus.

Dominick "Dom" Adam Cunningham is an English-born elite artistic gymnast representing Ireland since 2022, having previously represented Great Britain and England. He won a team gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the Individual Floor Gold at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leon Reid</span> Northern Irish sprinter

Leon Reid is a former British-Irish track and field sprinter. He won the bronze medal in the 200 metres at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Northern Ireland's first athletics medal in 28 years, and silver in the event at the 2013 European Under-23 Championships.

References

  1. "Mike BULL - Decathlon gold, Pole Vault silver at 1974 Commonwealths Games - Great Britain". Sporting Heroes. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  2. "Fitness guru Bull set for Spain move". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  3. Staff, The Guardian (15 June 2012). "Queen's birthday honours list 2012: OBE". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 26 June 2019.