People

By Guy D. Garcia

His image on Wheaties cereal boxes inspired a generation of '50s youngsters to eat the "breakfast of champions," and despite the intervening years, Bob Richards is still inspiring. A onetime minister, he earns his living on the motivational lecture circuit (and last year ran for President on the Populist Party ticket). Now the only man ever to take the Olympic pole-vaulting gold twice (1952, 1956) is back on the track in Waco, Texas, preparing for the World Veteran Games in Rome later this year. "I'm training like I've never trained before," says Richards, who turned 59 last week. "I want to get off a 13- to 14-ft. vault." After years of using rigid steel poles, Richards must adjust his skills to the new, springy fiberglass type, so he has been taking coaching tips from his son Brandon, 18, the top U.S. high school vaulter. "It's so different you wouldn't believe it," says Dad. "It's like going from straight tumbling to the trampoline."