Hooker Targets Six Metre Miracle Mark

WAIS pole vaulter Steve Hooker has set the target of jumping over six metres to claim a gold medal in Beijing.

Hooker jumped 5.97m in last week’s London GP meet finishing second to Russian Evgeniy Lukyanenko on count back.

Speaking to the West Australian Hooker commented that with the increased quality of the field nothing short of six metres would do.

“I’m pretty sure that the Olympics is going to get one over six metres for the first time just because that pressure is going to be there from a number of competitors, not just a select few,” said Hooker.

Hooker was also glad to have had the opportunity to jump against his main rivals in London ahead of the Beijing showdown.

“I knew that (London) would be the only place where I would be jumping against Evgeniy and Brad (Walker – US World Champion) so I was sort of treating it like a mock Olympic final and I was pretty happy with how I jumped.”

“I feel like it has paid dividends to this point – I feel like in London jumping against Brad and Evgeniy I was as consistent or better than they were throughout the competition.”

Hooker’s Coach, Alex Parnov believes Hooker is in career best shape and form, and agreed that the magical six metre mark would be the gold medal acid test in Beijing.

“Physically and probably mentally I would say Steve is in the best shape ever,” said Parnov.

“Technically every six months he is improving. Maybe physically he was the same shape last year and he jumped well in Europe.”

“Now mentally he is better and technically as well,” said Parnov, who also coaches Hooker’s WAIS training mate Paul Burgess.

Olympic success is the last hurdle between Hooker and stardom, but the 26 year-old is happy to prepare under the glare of media scrutiny.

“I still feel like I am a relatively unknown athlete in Australia and I have got no problems with that, it just lets me do my thing without all the glitz and glamour of it all,” said Hooker.

“I don’t feel I am the face of the team like those guys (famous athletes), I don’t really have the results at majors like those guys have so I don’t deserve it in a lot of ways.”