Further Information 

Competition Stats

AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Pole vault: 2000 (OGT) - 6th, 2001 (U20) - 1st (open) 4th, 2002 - DNC, 2003 - DNC, 2004 - 2nd, 2005 -2nd, 2006 – 2nd, 2007 - 2nd (1st Australian), 2008 - 1st

INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:
World Junior Championships: 2000 - pole vault 4th (5.20m)
World University Games: 2003 - pole vault 11th (5.10m)
Olympic Games: 2004 - pole vault qual round (5.30m), 2008 - pole vault 1st (5.96m)
World Championships: 2005 - pole vault qual round (5.45m), 2007 - pole vault 9th (5.76m)
Commonwealth Games: 2006 - pole vault 1st (5.80m)
World Cup: 2006 - pole vault 1st (5.80m)
World Indoor Championships: 2008 - pole vault 3rd (5.80m)

ANNUAL PROGRESSION:
1999 5.00m
2000 5.20m
2001 5.30m
2002 5.25m
2003 5.45m
2004 5.65m
2005 5.87m
2006 5.96m
2007 5.91m
2008 6.00m

EVENTS / PERSONAL BESTS:
100 metres: 10.68w - 2005
200 metres: 21.1 - 2005
Pole vault: 6.00m - Perth, 27/01/08

Interesting Facts

Steve played Australian football to a high level before focusing on pole vault. He has an interest in skydiving and has completed many parachute jumps. Steve took an unusual approach to achieving the status of world No. 1 in 2006, combining his efforts with work and study. He took a sabbatical from both in 2007.

Sporting Career

Steve secured a place in the team for the 2000 World Junior Championships with a surprise fourth placing in the Telstra Olympic Trials in August 2000. He departed for the World Juniors with a best of 5.10m, which he matched in the qualifying round in Santiago. He showed early signs of his excellent competitive ability in the final, clearing 5.20m on his first attempt but losing a bronze medal on countback.

In March 2001, a PB of 5.30m saw Steve claimed his first Australian title - in the Under 20 division. Some poor form, then serious injury restricted his 2002 and early 2003 seasons. However, Steve was selected in the team for the 2003 World University Games, where he placed 11th.

Major progress came during the 2003-04 domestic season, raising his best from 5.45m to 5.65m and claiming second at the Telstra Olympic Trials in one of the most competitive events on the program, surprising with automatic Olympic selection ahead of Paul Burgess and Viktor Chistiakov. But at the Games he managed only 5.30m to place 28th overall in the qualifying rounds.

Things were getting better once again during the 2004-05 domestic season - 5.75m in February, was followed by 5.87m in March. Second at the Nationals in March delivered selection for the 2005 World Championships. Disadvantaged significantly by headwinds in a disrupted (by equipment malfunctions) qualifying round, Steve did not qualify for the final.

With fresh determination after finishing second in the 2006 Nationals with 5.75m and winning the Victorian Championships at the MCG, he returned to the same venue a month later to emphatically win the Commonwealth title with a Games record of 5.80m.

He then moved to Perth to train under Alex Parnov. A hugely successful tour of Europe followed, culminating in a World Cup victory and the No. 1 World ranking for the year. The tour also included a PB of 5.96m in Berlin, soured slightly by an officiating error which had led him to initially believe that he had cleared the elusive six-metre mark.

A solid start to year 2007 was followed by a six-week precautionary rehabilitation program on his knee, before a successful return to training then, in late June, a start to what became a very successful International campaign.

His performances in Europe suggested a strong showing at the World Championships in Osaka, however, after qualifying comfortably for the final and starting the evening well, Steve made the decision to attempt a height (5.91m) that would have earned him the lead and equalled his season’s best. He didn’t, as the conditions prevailed.

Recovering from a bout of glandular fever, Steve started 2008 well in clearing the 6.00m mark at an interclub meet in Perth; the 15th man in history to do so.

He was given early nomination to the Australian Olympic Committee for selection into the Australian team for the 2008 Olympic Games to focus on his preparations.

Steve competed and won the Melbourne Athletics Grand Prix, clearing 5.82m, before taking out the National Championships, clearing the bar at 5.55m.

Steve created history at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, becoming the first Australian to win a gold medal in the pole vault and the first Australian field event athlete to win Olympic Gold in 60 years.

In an entralling battle with Russian young gun Evgeniy Lukyanenko, Hooker twice cleared clutch jumps on his third attempt in the final, before clinching the gold medal with yet another third attempt clearance at 5.90m. 

With the gold medal secured he went on to break the Olympic record, with another third and final attempt heart-stopper at 5.96m.

Family connections
His mother Erica (Nixon) Hooker was a 1972 Olympian and a Commonwealth Games long jump silver medallist (1978). She also won nine National titles. His father Bill represented Australia in the 800m and 4 x 400m at the 1974 Commonwealth Games and won four National crowns.