  6'2"
(1.87m) Steve Hooker has a long pole. Now you stop laughing with the
dumb, obvious jokes you! I thought every sexy hooker in the world
passed through Hollywood sometime but I never met this guy. Born
in 1982 in Melbourne,
Victoria, Steve is an Australian pole vaulter and Olympic gold medalist. His
personal best is 6.06 m, making him the second highest pole vaulter in
history, behind only Sergey Bubka.
Hooker attended Greythorn
Primary School in Balwyn North, Victoria and Balwyn High School in
Balwyn North, Victoria. His mother Erica Hooker was a 1972 Olympian and
a 1978 Commonwealth Games long jump silver medalist. She also won nine
national titles. His father Bill represented Australia in the 800 m and
4 x 400 m at the 1974 Commonwealth Games and won four national crowns.
He began his career with the Box Hill Athletic Club. His career
started slowly, and he only went professional in 2006. He relocated to
Perth, living on a very modest Australian Sports Commission allowance.
Steve won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a vault of 5.96
meters, setting a new Olympic record, and making him the first
Australian male track and field gold medalist in 40 years since Ralph
Doubell won the 800 m in Mexico City in 1968. At the 2009 World
Athletics Championships, in Berlin, Hooker won the gold despite a
hamstring injury. On only his second jump, Hooker cleared 5.90 meters,
to win the gold after missing 5.85 meters on his first attempt. At the
200 IAAF World Indoor Championships, Hooker won the gold in the pole
vault with a vault of 6.0 meters, a championship record. At the 2010
Commonwealth Games, Hooker won the gold in the pole vault. |
BIG DON'S BOYS
