Poelman joins elite band

Press, 18 March 1988, Page 26

Poelman joins elite band

Simon Poelman’s winning of four individual titles at the national senior track and field championships in Hamilton was a notable achievement. But it was not, as has been claimed elsewhere, the first time the feat has been recorded since 1897, when Arthur Holder won two hurdles and two sprint titles at one meeting. The legendary George Smith, the All Blacks' match-winner who later became one of rugby league’s trail-blazers in the All Golds, won four New Zealand senior titles in one day at the Basin Reserve in Wellington in

1900. He triumphed in the 250 yd sprint — the last time that distance was raced over — the 100 yd, and the hurdles finals at 120 yd and 440 yd. Smith later won the English title at 120 yd hurdles and claimed a world record for. the longer event in Auckland. Twenty years later one of New Zealand’s best athletics all-rounders, "Buz” Sutherland, carried off four titles at the national championships, although he still had war wound scars on his legs. He took first place in the high jump, long jump, triple jump and javelin

throw; in later years he also claimed the shot put and the pole vault to emphasise his wide-rang-ing skills. Sutherland spent the mid-1920s in South Africa, representing that country in the decathlon at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Although he was a well seasoned 30 by that stage, he finished fifth in a field of 49, and was only 10 points below the winning score at the 1920 Olympics. Until Daley Thompson won in Moscow in 1980, Sutherland was the only Commonwealth athlete to gain a place in the top five in an Olympic decathlon.