Hooker on Board for Big Domestic Season
After a difficult year Australian Flame captain and WAIS scholarship holder Steve Hooker is back in full training and impressed the importance of the 2012 Australian Athletics Tour in his build-up to defending his Olympic title at the 2012 Games in London.
Launching the four-stop series in Adelaide yesterday, Hooker and his pole vaulting counterparts have opportunities to compete in the South Australian capital, Perth and Melbourne.
“I’ll be pushing for the Australian season, our Olympic nomination trials first and foremost, but across the season too hopefully,” Hooker said.
“My body is back to where it should be I have put together a few good months of training already. My mind is a work in progress after what has been a tough year and it’s a matter of trying to keep things moving forward and staying positive.”
Hooker, who is coached by Alex Parnov at the Western Australian Institute of Sport in Perth, is back on the runway albeit off of a short approach.
“I have been jumping again, off a short approach at the moment, but working hard on some technical aspects of the event to find that rhythm again and get my game back for 2012,” he continued.
“I’m not thinking about Daegu too much. I have to work with what I’ve got and look forward to next year.
“I’ll be trying to jump as much as I can, get a solid jump out in the domestic season and then head to Europe, find some more form after a relatively slow preparation and push toward my best.”
The Olympic, Commonwealth and world indoor champion is unfazed by not yet being nominated to the Australian Olympic Committee for automatic selection as the Australian season was always on his radar.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be preselected. I always had intentions of competing domestically and it’s about getting back in the habit of vaulting and building towards an assault on London,” Hooker said.
“The team we have getting ready for London is looking good. Track and field athletes have been building to what is the biggest show in the Olympics and I can honestly say that we have probably eight people that could win a medal. Most exciting too is that these are young, strong and fit athletes.
“I’m not troubled by the predictions of the Australian Olympic Committee. Track and field will be doing everything it can to deliver results I am confident in saying that so many athletes will do well.”
The National Athletics Series, including the 2012 Australian Athletics Tour, begins at the ZATOPEK:10 on the weekend of December 10, with Adelaide set to host the first Tour meet on Saturday, January 28 2012.
-AthleticsAustralia