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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-08/s ... tion=sport


Struggling Hooker needs breathing space, says official
Posted February 08, 2012 17:00:59


Olympic champion pole vaulter Steve Hooker is battling to work through "technical issues" and may miss next month's national trials and the remainder of Australia's athletics series.

Hooker, who crashed out of his world championship defence in South Korea last year after failing to clear 5.50 metres, has pulled out of Saturday's Perth Track Classic in a bid to find form six months ahead of the London Olympics.

"He's just having technical issues," Athletics Australia's high performance manager Eric Hollingsworth said on Wednesday.

"It can change overnight or it can take a month to work out.

"He just needs some breathing space to work out these things and get through it."

Hooker leapt 6.06m indoors in the 2009 season, the second highest ever behind retired world record holder Sergei Bubka, but battled through two injury-stricken years before rushing his preparations into a failed world championships campaign at Daegu.

Hooker cleared only 5m at the Adelaide Track Classic at his first meeting since Daegu last month before being timed out of his event as he waited for strong winds to die down.

"I want to go out there and feel that competition energy but unfortunately I just felt a bit flat," Hooker said after that event.

Hollingsworth said Hooker had altered his run-up and changed poles in recent months, but felt confident the vaulter would recover in time to find his best form ahead of London.

"I've been through this before with Steve," said Hollingsworth, who worked with Hooker at Victoria's Institute of Sport prior to his Olympic breakthrough.

"It took about a month to sort out ... It's a very technical and dangerous (sport) and it takes a lot of courage. It's not surprising that (pole vaulters) have these issues."

The Melbourne Track Classic early next month doubles as Olympic trials for Australia's athletics team. Hollingsworth would not be drawn on whether Hooker would compete there.

"I have a gut instinct about that, but I'm not going to get into that now," he said.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/br ... hits-snag/


Hooker Games bid hits snag
Gene Stephan, The West Australian
February 8, 2012, 5:47 am

Steve Hooker in action. Picture: Mark Blinch/Reuters
Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker's London campaign is in jeopardy as he prepares to sit out the entire domestic series.

The 29-year-old has withdrawn from Saturday's big international event, the Go for 2&5 Track Classic at his home stadium in Perth, and is expected to announce soon he will not compete again until May.

This will include Olympic selection trials in Melbourne in the first week of March where he must win with an A-qualifying standard of 5.72m to be guaranteed selection for London.

His only other hope would be for a discretionary spot from national selectors who could add him to the Olympic squad providing he achieves at least two other A-qualifying marks by the June deadline for final nominations.

But at this stage he does not have a single qualifying mark.

Hooker, who in 2010 held the Olympic, world outdoor, world indoor and Commonwealth Games titles, has spent the past 18 months battling injury and technical problems.

After overcoming his injury woes he was hoping for a return to his best as one of only a handful of 6m men in the world.

However, he has been struggling with his technique and in particular his run-up, which was responsible for ruining his world championship defence in Daegu, South Korea in August last year where he failed to register a height.

It is hoped that by withdrawing from all competition over the next three months he would be able to focus on his technique, allowing him to compete with greater confidence, which has been lacking for some time.

Steve Lawrence, the head of the WA Institute of Sport where Hooker trains, said a series of meetings had been held over the past few days to discuss the best way forward for Hooker.

"What we have to establish is what is the best way to prepare Steve for the outcome he is hoping for and that is Olympic representation," Lawrence said.

"By backing off now may give him the best possible chance at the Games, but that decision has not yet been made and is still being considered by support staff including his coach Alex Parnov."

Lawrence said everything was being done to ensure Hooker had the best chance of being ready to defend his title in London.

Since jumping 6.01m to win the world indoor title in Doha in 2010, his best in major competition was 5.60m at the Commonwealth Games.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/londo ... 6264480584


OLYMPIC pole vault champion Steve Hooker is fighting a serious confidence issue which is threatening the defence of his crown in London.

And the immediate future of another of Australia's star athletes, Jana Pittman, is again up in the air after she suffered a foot injury over the weekend.

The alarm bells have been sounding about Hooker's preparation for some time but they reached tipping point today when he pulled out of Saturday's Perth Track Classic.

His problems started last year when a chronic knee injury kept him sidelined for months and he went into the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, badly underdone.

Hooker, the defending champion, failed to clear a height in the competition and ever since then he has battled a case of the "yips".

He competed in Adelaide a fortnight ago but could only clear 5.00m off a modified six-step run-up.

He was expected to stretch that out to 10, possibly even his full run-up, on his home track in Perth but instead has decided to step away from competition until he can fix his confidence issues.

Hooker suffered a similar problem as a junior, taking almost 12 months to recover, before kick-starting an incredible run which saw him elevated to one of the greatest pole vaulters in history.

Athletics Australia high performance manager Eric Hollingsworth confirmed his star athlete would be taking time out.

Hooker, who hasn't qualified for the London Olympics, is certain to miss the Olympic trials in Melbourne on March 2-3. He will have until June to get his mojo back and make the team.