Career
In the decathlon, his personal best of 8359 points (which is adjusted from 8366 points as it was hand timed) is still a New Zealand national record. This was set at the national athletics championships in Christchurch 1987. At the time of the Seoul Olympics he was ranked fourth in the world at decathlon, but had a bad start when a series of false starts led to a slow 100m time in his heat, and he finished in 16th place on 8021 points.
In 1998, Poelman was convicted of importing ecstasy tablets with a value of $NZ200,000 and sentenced to 3 years in prison.
He initially denied the charges but later confessed. Poelman returned to competitive athletics in 2004, setting a world age-group record, breaking a 23-year world record, for the decathlon.
He was awarded the New Zealand 1990.
