Hooker Returns to Millrose an Australian Hero

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/sport ... ss&emc=rss

Olympian Returns to Millrose an Australian Hero

By JOSHUA ROBINSON
Published: January 29, 2009
Though most baggage handlers have never seen Steven Hooker, they may have grown to dislike him. Hooker, when flying to London or Perth or Beijing, was the passenger who could not be like every other traveler, checking in just a suitcase or two, even if they were a little over the weight limit.

The bag Hooker needed to take whenever he flew was nearly 20 feet long — a world-class pole-vaulter needs the tools of his trade.

But Hooker had to come up with a new plan after his poles were lost on a trip to New York in 2007. On another trip, his poles bound for a training center in Claremont, Australia, wound up at a home in Claremont, Calif.

As he prepares to compete at the 102nd Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, Hooker now has one set of poles in the United States, one in Germany and one at home in Australia, like a touring rock star and his battery of guitars.

But equipment is the least of the changes in Hooker’s career since he last competed here. He returned to New York this week as an Olympic gold medalist and a national hero in his native Australia.

Last summer, he stunned the crowds at the Beijing Games by scrapping through the early rounds and snatching the gold on his third attempt at a height of 19 feet 4 1/4 inches. He said he never expected to win with more misjumps than successes on his scorecard.

“It was more like boxing than pole vault,” he told reporters at the time.

For Australia, a country used to greatness in sports like cricket, rugby and swimming, Hooker’s success ended a miserable spell. No Australian man had won gold in track and field since the 1968 Mexico City Games, and no Australian man had won gold in the field since 1948. After Hooker secured first place, he took it a step further.

With his mop of curly blond hair flopping around him — lightened by a lifetime of Australian surf and sun — Hooker cleared a bar at 19-6 ½ to set an Olympic record. Now he is one of the few pole-vaulters on the planet who gets stopped on the street every time he goes out.

“A lot of people tell me where they were when they watched my competition,” Hooker, 26, said Thursday, “how they were affected by it, and how much beer they went out and drank after I won.”

With a long jumper for a mother and a sprinter for a father, Hooker’s pedigree seemed to always have him on the track. But until he was 17, his athletic prowess unfolded on the oval-shaped field of Australian rules football. At 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, he showed enough promise to consider a professional career.

His athletics coach was quick to steer him away, even though football was somehow helping him become a better pole-vaulter. Even today, Hooker believes he owes elements of his technique to his football days.

“It’s the sort of event where you don’t need to be the most talented person in the field to win,” he said. “But you need to be technically the best. And the best element of my jump is my swing. I got a lot of that from kicking the footie.”

Alex Parnov, who has coached three vaulters who have cleared the hallowed six-meter mark and has worked with Hooker since 2006, said he believed that Hooker was one of a handful of vaulters who could attack Sergey Bubka’s outdoor world record of 20-1 ¾. Bubka, who competed for the Soviet Union, set 17 of the last 18 world records.

But with pole-vaulters still effective into their early 30s, Hooker said he had plenty of time to keep honing the skills that take an entire career to master.

“I’ve been doing it for over a decade and I’m still learning how to do it,” he said. “Right now, I know exactly what I want to do, and I hope that over the next couple of years I’m doing that consistently.”

As long as he has his poles.

[KirkB]

Wow! Hooker's the top story today! 6.01. Wow!

The bag Hooker needed to take whenever he flew was nearly 20 feet long — a world-class pole-vaulter needs the tools of his trade.

Ahh! So THAT'S how Hooker vaults so high! 20-foot poles!

pole vault ... “It’s the sort of event where you don’t need to be the most talented person in the field to win,” he said. “But you need to be technically the best. And the best element of my jump is my swing. I got a lot of that from kicking the footie.”

This is more like it.

Kirk

[tennpolevault]

For the first time......I really think the WR is going down. I think its going down soon. Very soon. Like in the next 6 weeks. Bubka's best vault ever at Millrose was about 5.85m if I remember correctly. Typically guys struggle a bit there. From what I just witnessed, the guy is simply bringing it on the runway with reckless abandon. Simply Awesome. If he can jump 6.01m in MSG, quite smoothly I might add.....no telling what is going to go down under "ideal" conditions. Anybody know what he was gripping there? That should be a wake-up call to some people....eh mate?

[Gchap7]

I was at the Millrose games tonight. His attempts were unbelievably close at a wr. I'm talking a little more patients at the top and he could have had it. It may have been because the bar was lower, but his attempt at the height before 6.01m , off the top of my head I cant remember but it was 19 something...he was a solid 6-8 inches over it. Just a monster jump. The way he drives his take off is something to see. He's put in his homework in the off season. It will be interesting to see what heights he attempts this year.

[Andy_C]

102nd Millrose Games
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY - 1/30/2009

Event 7 Men Pole Vault F Schmertz
==========================================================================
Name Year Team Finals
==========================================================================
Finals
1 Steven Hooker AUS 6.01m 19-08.50
5.35---5.50---5.60---5.70---5.80---5.88---6.01---6.16
PPP-----O-----PPP-----O-----PPP----XXO-----O----XXX
2 Derek Miles USA 5.70m 18-08.25
5.35---5.50---5.60---5.70---5.80---5.88
PPP-----O------XO----XXO---PPP----XXX
3 Giovanni Lanaro MEX 5.60m 18-04.50
5.35---5.50---5.60---5.70
O-----O-------XO----XXX
4 Darren Neidermeyer USA 5.50m 18-00.50
5.35---5.50---5.60---5.70
O-----O-------XXP---X
-- Jacob Pauli USA NH
5.35
XXX
-- Paul Burgess AUS NH
5.35
XXX

Source: http://www.millrose-games.com/events-results/mens-events/mens-pole-vault/

He really went for it today! Looking forward to seeing him in Sydney on the 28th.

[chasing6]

Has anybody been successful at finding some vids of his vaults? I missed it (no TV at my apt) and would really like to see his attempts at 6.16.

[rainbowgirl28]

Has anybody been successful at finding some vids of his vaults? I missed it (no TV at my apt) and would really like to see his attempts at 6.16.

They're posted in the USA Elite section. Meets that happen in the US generally get discussed there.