He was also the New Zealand senior men's national champion in several individual events including the 100m (once), 110m hurdles (seven times), long jump (twice), pole vault (three times), and shot put (once).

He won the bronze medal at the 1986 Commonwealth games in Edinburgh[1] and at the 1990 Commonwealth games he won both the silver medal for decathlon and bronze in the pole vault.

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.

[1] In 1998, Poelman was convicted of importing ecstasy tablets with a value of $NZ200,000 and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

[3] Poelman returned to competitive athletics in 2004, setting a world age-group record, breaking a 23-year world record, for the decathlon.