Full name Steven Leslie Hooker Event(s) Pole vault Weight 85 kg Nickname(s) Hooksy Name Steve Hooker Children Maxim Hooker | Nationality Australian Role Olympic athlete Sport Athletics Height 1.87 m | |
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Similar People Yekaterina Kostetskaya, Renaud Lavillenie, Romain Mesnil, Yevgeny Lukyanenko, Denys Yurchenko Profiles | ||
Parents Bill Hooker, Erica Hooker | ||
Steve Hooker commentates on his Olympic Pole Vault gold medal | Take the Mic
Steven "Steve" Leslie Hooker OAM (born 16 July 1982 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian former pole vaulter and Olympic gold medalist. His personal best, achieved in 2008, is 6.06 m (19 ft 10 1⁄2 in) making him the third-highest pole vaulter in history, behind Sergey Bubka and Renaud Lavillenie.
Contents
- Steve Hooker commentates on his Olympic Pole Vault gold medal Take the Mic
- 2008 beijing olympics steve hooker winning the gold medal in pole vault
- Career
- Honours
- Personal life
- References
Hooker also has a personal best of 10.82 s in 100 m as an amateur sprinter. He ran in the 2010 Stawell Gift.
2008 beijing olympics steve hooker winning the gold medal in pole vault
Career
Hooker won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a vault of 5.96 metres, setting a new Olympic record, and making him the first Australian male track and field gold medallist in 40 years since Ralph Doubell won the 800 metres in Mexico City in 1968.
At the 2009 World Athletics Championships, in Berlin, Hooker won the gold medal despite a hamstring injury. On only his second jump, Hooker cleared 5.90 metres, to win the gold medal after missing 5.85 metres on his first attempt.
At the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, Hooker won the gold medal in the pole vault with a vault of 6.01 metres, a championship record.
At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Hooker won the gold medal in the pole vault.
He retired from athletics in April 2014, choosing to focus on his family, his wife Yekaterina Kostetskaya having given birth to their first son, Maxim, in 2013.
Honours
In the January 2009 New Years Honours List, Steve Hooker was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) "For service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games".
Personal life
Hooker attended Greythorn Primary School 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.