Mike Bull

A true legend of Northern Ireland sport, Mike Bull was the United Kingdom’s leading pole vaulter in the 1960s and 1970s. Born and bred in Belfast, Bull was the son of an Englishman, with the archetypal name John Bull, who worked in the Northern Ireland capital as a physical training instructor. He was stationed in the city while serving in the Royal Navy during World War II.

The international athletics career of Mike Bull started when he was a 19-year-old student at Queen’s University, Belfast, but he came close to experiencing an embarrassing start to his career. Competing in the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games at Kingston, Jamaica, Bull opted to kick-off his campaign with a moderate height of 4.30 metres but failed his first two attempts before clearing it and going on to win silver. Bull won a then record 69 international vests for Northern Ireland and Great Britain between 1966-74 and earned further Commonwealth Games medals with pole vault gold in 1970 and silver in 1974, when he also won the decathlon gold medal.

Bull used to train alongside Mary Peters at a time when Belfast was in the middle of its unrest and troubles and, after training, Bull would escort Peters to her home on the Antrim Road. Her flat was in the same building where three off-duty British soldiers were lured to their deaths in 1973. Coincidentally, Bull and Peters respectively won the decathlon and pentathlon gold at the 1974 Commonwealth Games. Sadly, Bull never won an Olympic medal, with 13th place in 1968 being his highest finish from his two appearances.

Bull did, however, dominate the AAA Championship, and was pole vault champion five times between 1966-72 and was second on another three occasions. He was also AAA indoor champion eight times, including six consecutive 1967-72, and the British Universities champion in 1966 and 1967. He won 10 Northern Ireland pole vault titles and was decathlon champion four times. He also broke the British pole vault record 25 times.

After retiring from athletics, Bull opened gymnasiums in Belfast and Bangor. He became a TV commentator and in 1985 won the BBC Superstars competition. He became a coach with the International Association of Athletics Federation and was an honorary vice-president of the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council. He later worked as a strength and conditioning coach for the Irish rugby union team.

Bull received the OBE in 2012 for his services to sport and charity. In 1986 he co-founded the sports charity SPARKS Northern Ireland, which raised money for children suffering from crippling illnesses. In 2021 Bull wrote his biography, Mike Bull: An Olympian’s Story, which was published more than 40 years after his competitive athletics career ended. That same year Bull started pole vault training again a month before his 75th birthday with a view to adding another Masters title to the one he won when he was 44!

Personal Best: PV – 5.25 (1973).