"I have been a teacher at Mount Aspiring College for many years. I started here primarily teaching in Year 7 with an overview of the students with special needs. As the years have progressed and Mt Aspiring's roll has increased, my role has completely reversed. I now teach only four hours a week in the mainstream and the rest of my week is spent supporting students with special needs and the team who work with them. I love my job and feel privileged to do the work I do."
Barbara, born in Christchurch in 1949, was a fine all-round athlete who prospered under the coaching eye of Valdy Briedis from when she was only 13. By the age of 16 she'd won her first New Zealand pentathlon title and was competing on the international stage.
At the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, Poulsen, as she was then, went close to winning a gold medal in the shot put. In the end, her best effort of 15.87m fell just short of gold medallist Mary Peters of Northern Ireland, who had 15.93m.
By Christchurch in 1974, Poulsen was competing in both the shot put and the pentathlon.
In the shot put, she was fifth with 14.60m. She filled the same position in the pentathlon with 4158 points, some distance behind Peters' total of 4455. Peters won the gold medal in that event in the 1972 Munich Olympics. The New Zealander's best performances in the pentathlon were 14.41s in the 100m hurdles and 14.84m in the shot put.
Barbara seemed sure to be picked for the pentathlon for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, in which she was ranked 4th in the world, but was surprisingly overlooked.
In Edmonton, Canadian Jones-Konihowski won the pentathlon with 4768 points. Barbara, as she was by then, after her sad end to the final event, ended up with 3989 points.
Barbara won 16 senior national titles from 1966-78 – nine in the pentathlon and seven in the shot put.
She and husband Mike, both long-time athletics coaches after they finished their competitive careers, lived in Wellington for many years. Barbara had 26 years at Queen Margaret College as head of department for physical education. She was also a conditioning coach for the Wellington Shakers netball team.
The Beables moved to Wanaka in 2016 and continued their coaching efforts with a whole new batch of athletes.
Husband Michael who runs BOUNDLESS PERFORMANCE track and field coaching will speak to us in future months.
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