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http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common ... 22,00.html

Greece is word for vault rookie
Scott Gullan
01mar04

STEVEN Hooker, the son of a former Olympic long-jumper and Commonwealth Games 800m runner, yesterday provided the shock of the Olympic pole vault trials.

The 21-year-old Victorian booked a spot at the Athens Olympics by clearing 5.65m on his final attempt to finish second behind former world champion Dmitri Markov.

An emotional Hooker broke down in tears after the jump of his life. The magnitude of it was still sinking in an hour later.

"It is a bit surreal at the moment," he said.

"It has been a crazy week or so."

Hooker rocketed into Athens calculations last week when he paid his own way to Perth to compete in an intra-club event with Markov and Paul Burgess, where he cleared the Olympic A-standard qualifying mark of 5.65m.

While most other events at the trials struggled for quality, the men's pole vault had four qualified athletes going for the two automatic spots. Burgess (fifth) and Viktor Chistiakov, who finished third, were the major losers yesterday.

Hooker's mother, Erica, represented Australia in the long jump at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

His father, Bill, is still Australia's fifth-fastest 800m runner and was a Commonwealth Games representative.

His younger brother, Tom, was on Collingwood's rookie list last year.

Hooker, who is coached by Emma George's original coach Mark Stewart, took up the sport five years ago.

He had a personal best of 5.45m before the season.

"I was trying to be an 800m runner or triple jumper at Box Hill, and I then asked Mark if I could have a go," he said.

"I've been on the verge for a little while.

"This makes me confident (for the Olympics).

"I'm a pressure kind of guy. I'll have training sessions where I am average, but, if there is something on the line, that's when I perform my best.

"I always jump better on third attempts than first attempts.

"Today it was on the line. Viktor missed his third attempt at 5.65m, so, if I jumped it. I was in. I pulled it out."

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,86 ... 18,00.html

Hooker to scale new heights
By Mike Hurst
March 1, 2004

GLAMOUR couple Tatiana Grigorieva and Viktor Chistiakov are in danger of missing Olympic selection after their disappointing pole vault results at the nationals which ended last night.

The Sydney 2000 Olympic silver medallist Grigorieva was in tears after missing all three of her attempts at her opening height of 4.00m on Saturday and Chistiakov finished third in the world class men's final yesterday.

Victorian Steven Hooker, 21, cried tears of joy after he vaulted over the bar set at 5.65m on his third and final attempt to claim second on a countback behind 2001 world champion Dmitri Markov (WA) and thus fulfil the criteria for automatic selection to Athens.

Chistiakov (SA) finished third with 5.55m ahead of WA's Paul Burgess, both of whom have cleared the A-qualifying height (of 5.65m) inside the qualifying period and the discretionary third Olympic team place will be fought out between them.

Because Markov's occasional training partner Kym Howe won the women's title with an A-qualifying mark of 4.40m, Grigorieva must also clear that height if she is to join her in the Olympic team by the deadline of July 4.

Hooker though is the success story of these championships.

Built tall and finely-muscled like his father Bill, sixth in the 1974 Commonwealth Games 800m final (in 1min 46.75sec), Steven has the spring of his mother, Munich Olympian Erica Nixon, who was the long jump silver medallist at the 1978 Commonwealth Games.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/ ... 33795.html

National titles get a lift


By Len Johnson
Sydney
March 1, 2004

Viktor Chistiakov misses out on automatic Olympic selection.
Picture: TIM CLAYTON



It took a long time for a performance everyone could be happy with to emerge at the Australian national championships. After four days almost entirely on the downbeat both on and off the track, Steven Hooker produced that one performance, clearing 5.65 metres to finish second to Dmitri Markov in the pole vault yesterday afternoon.


As that equalled the Olympic A-performance, Hooker will be joining Markov in Athens later this year.


To quibble, not quite everyone was happy. Viktor Chistiakov, who could have made himself an automatic nomination to the Olympic team by finishing first or second, could manage only third, making it a horrid weekend for the family after his wife, Tatiana Grigorieva, no-heighted in the women's vault on Saturday.


Chistiakov lives on, however, merely disappointed. Devastated was Paul Burgess, the fourth of the vaulters who came into the competition with an Olympic A-standard. Burgess finished fourth and his Olympic chances could disappear today if the selectors decide Chistiakov's status as a finalist at last year's world championships warrants making him a discretionary choice.

Otherwise, Burgess will have to do enough between now and July 4 to overtake Chistiakov.

Markov was one of the few unsurprised by Hooker's performance. He saw the young Melbourne vaulter get his A-standard a week ago. Hooker's athletic pedigree is impeccable. His mother, Erica, competed in the 1972 Olympics as a long jumper. His father, Bill, is Australia's fifth-fastest 800 metres runner ever and was a Commonwealth Games representative.

For a time, Steven was heading down that path, too, until he asked Mark Stewart, who coached Emma George until 1999, whether he could try the pole vault. That was five years ago; he had a personal-best of 5.45 coming into this year. On paper, Markov, Chistiakov and Burgess seemed to outrank Hooker. Not in his eyes, however.

"I didn't look at myself as ranked fourth," Hooker said, "I did 5.65 last week and that made me think I was one of the form athletes."

Now, everyone knows he is