[1][2] Gibbons was educated at Palm Beach Currumbin State High School in Queensland, Australia, and at Howick College in Auckland.
[3] Also in 1990, he competed in the pole vault at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Athletics, but did not progress beyond the qualifying round after recording no height.
[5] On 25 January 1992, Gibbons became the first New Zealander to clear 5.50 metres in the pole vault, when he recorded a height of 5.51 m.[1][6] He would equal this personal best five years later, on 9 July 1997.
[6] Competing in the pole vault at the 1992 Summer Olympics, Gibbons was eliminated in the qualifying round with no official mark.
[7] Gibbons won the pole vault title at the New Zealand Athletics Championships ten times between 1991 and 2004.