Men_s Health Australia - April 2016__

ELITE OLYMPIC GOLDEN MOMENTS 04 / 16

AS TOLD TO IAN COCKERILL

116 APRIL 2016

HIGHEST FLIER

AUSTRALIA’S 60-YEAR QUEST FOR ITS NEXT FIELD EVENT OLYMPIC GOLD FINALLY ENDED
WHEN STEVE HOOKER SOARED... AND SOARED... INTO THE BEIJING NIGHT AIR

THE BUILD-UP

Coming into Beijing there were three of us who

we re c lea rly b et te r t h a n a nyone e l s e a nd, a s fa r

as I was concerned, Yevgeny Lukyanenko of

Russia and Brad Walker of the US were the ones

I had to beat.

In the qualifiers, my first jump wasn’t great

and I landed on the bar. On my next I got under

the bar. Historically, I’m very good at third

attempts and I tried to turn that into a positive.

I also took the next (stiffer) pole and moved my

run-up back a bit. It worked. Meanwhile, Brad

missed his three attempts.

I wasn’t feeling good in the final. My third at

5.80 metres was all over the place, but I hit the

mat okay and thought, “Good, that’s silver”. I

was still pretty business-like. At that point

you’re in a boxing match and I didn’t want

Yevgeny to think I was content with that.

CRUNCH TIME

We both missed our first two attempts at

5.85m before Yevgeny cleared. My next jump

was one I look back on and say that

s omet i me s luc k go e s you r w ay. A s s o on a s I

started to go up I knew I was going way right.

Eight times out of 10 I wouldn’t have even put

my feet above my head. Ninety-nine times

out of 100 I would have missed. But I

somehow got over, just landed on the mat and

t houg ht, “ M ay b e t h i s i s my d ay ”.

Although I missed my first two attempts at

5.90m I was happy with my run-up, my grip

and my pole – the same one I’d jumped six

metres with earlier that year. I didn’t watch,

but when Yevgeny missed his third attempt I

knew I’d win gold if I made my jump.

I’d visualised this moment 10,000 times. It

was a complete f low state and in the end it

was the easiest jump I’d done that day and

one of the easiest of my life. There’s maybe a

second as you’re falling to the mat and all I

remember is screaming, “Yes!”

BUM RAP

Like sprinters and long jumpers, pole vaulters

need to get from zero to maximum speed over

a short distance. Now look behind you – have

you got what it takes? “You can’t run without

glutes,” says Hooker. Another reason not to

skip leg day.

BIG GAINS, FAST

“It might be flexibility, it might be speed, but

nothing exposes your weaknesses better than

the pole vault,” says Hooker. And right there is

your qui cke st path to im pr ove me nt. “ You ’ll g et

only incremental gains working on your

strengths, so attack your weaknesses. Be

analytical and creative and figure out ways to

improve them for big wins.”

YOU CAN’T BUY...

Experience. “In my mind, anything less than

gold would have been a sub-par result, with

my main advantage being that I’d been to an

Olympics and the other two hadn’t. The

Games are big, overwhelming, and I was ready

for that.” Remember, if you think it’s an

advantage, it is an advantage.

NAME

Steve Hooker

LIVES

Melbourne

OLYMPICS

Beijing, 2008

SPORT

Athletics

EVENT

Pole Vault

AGE THEN

26

AGE NOW

33

AT A GLANCE

HOOKER’S OLYMPIC RECORD JUMP CURRENT WORLD RECORD

5.96m 6.16m(Renaud Lavillenie, France)

AUSTRALIAN

HOOKER’S HOW-TO

Up, up and... over:

Hooker on his way

to gold.

SEE STEVE SOAR

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GOLD-WINNING VAULT