14
thletics athletics
HOOKED ON SUCCESS Looking down the runway, knowing that glory awaits with a successful clearance of the pole vault bar is something that Steve Hooker is not unfamiliar with. However, the situation the Olympic champion faced in Berlin was far different from that of Beijing, where a series of clutch jumps secured him the gold medal. In Beijing his mind was willing and his body able. In Berlin there were doubts as to both, following a torn abductor just ten days out from the qualifying round. Unable to jump in the lead up and not knowing how his body would hold up played on the 27-year-old’s mind, who at first only rated himself a 50:50 chance of participating. Intense medical treatment and a high risk strategy of attempting just one jump in the qualifying round, at the height of 5.65m, saw him progress through to the final. Yet the effort took its toll, physically and mentally. An increased amount of pain followed, whilst Hooker’s body language, let alone his comments, made it appear unlikely that a similar strategy would be fruitful in the final. “If I do jump (in the final) it will be
a similar strategy. Just enter the competition with my first jump and then see how we go,” he said at the time. “I’ll start at a height that I think is possible to win a medal. If I can do that then I will be happy.” As it turned out the pain Hooker suffered was from an associated neural problem, which received treatment from team physio Shane Kelly and a local anaesthetic from team doctor Adam Castricum during the final. Hooker entered the competition at 5.85m and had a close miss. A first up clearance would have automatically seen him in the lead, as all other competitors had missed an effort at a previous height. Hooker went close, but shaved the bar on the way down. With Frenchman Romain Mesnil clearing the height on his first attempt and Hooker knowing he could perhaps only summon his body to produce one more quality attempt, he made the bold move to raise the bar to 5.90m and go for the win, rather than securing a minor medal by clearing 5.85m. What his body may have been lacking, his mental focus and strength compensated for. Hooker attacked the bar and flew over
it, taking him into the lead. With subsequent attempts from Mesnil and compatriot Renaud Lavillenie proving unsuccessful, Hooker had defied the odds to retain his position as the world’s best vaulter. “It’s a mental battle you have to fight with yourself and you have to convince yourself that you’re ready; you’re ready to pick up the massive competition pole that’s going to throw you nearly six metres in the air,” he said. “You’ve got to convince yourself that you’re ready to do an impressive jump with the stands very close in and you’ve got to be prepared to take that risk and lucky for me I knew prior to this injury I’d done such fantastic training and what great shape I was in. “There was one specific training session, the one before I got hurt, where on the pole I jumped on today I jumped a 5.90m-high bar and I knew I had it in me so I could go out there with confidence that that was the right pole, I had the right run-up and if I could just get down the runway it would be enough.”