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, 2009 - DNC

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), 2009 - pole vault 1st
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), 2009 - pole vault 1st (6.01m)

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
2009 6.06m

EVENTS / PERSONAL BESTS:
100 metres: 10.68w - 2005
200 metres: 21.1 - 2005
Pole vault: 6.06m - Boston (USA), 08/02/09

RECORD(S):
Olympic record – pole vault: 5.96m – Beijing (CHN), 22/08/2008
Oceania/national record – pole vault: 6.06m – Boston (USA), 7/02/09

Interesting Facts

Steve played Australian Rules 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

2000 – Steve secured a place in the team for the world junior championships with a fourth placing in the Telstra Olympic Trials. At the world juniors he matched his PB of 5.10m in the qualifying round in Santiago. In the final he cleared 5.20m on his first attempt but lost a bronze medal on countback.

2001 – A PB of 5.30m saw Steve claim his first Australian title, in the U20 division.

2002 – A serious injury restricted his season.

2003 – Steve was selected in the team for the 2003 World University Games, where he placed 11th.

2004 – Raised his best from 5.45m to 5.65m and claimed second at the Telstra Olympic trials, to gain automatic Olympic selection ahead of Paul Burgess and Viktor Chistiakov. At the Games he managed 5.30m to place 28th overall in the qualifying rounds.

2005 – Cleared 5.75m in February, followed by 5.87m in March. He finished second at the nationals in March which gained him selection for the world championships. Disadvantaged significantly by headwinds in a disrupted (by equipment malfunctions) qualifying round, Steve did not qualify for the final.

2006 – After finishing second at the nationals with 5.75m and winning the Victorian championships at the MCG, Steve 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 tour of Europe culminated 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.

2007 – Steve had a six-week precautionary rehabilitation program on his knee. He was selected in the world championships team for 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 equaled his season’s best. He didn’t clear that height, due to the conditions, which left him with ninth place in the competition.

2008 – Recovering from a bout of glandular fever, Steve cleared the 6.00m mark at an inter-club meet in Perth; the 15th man in history to do so. Steve competed and won the World Athletics Tour Melbourne, clearing 5.82m, before taking out the national championships, clearing the bar at 5.55m. In his second Olympic Games, Steve Hooker cemented his place in history, setting a new Olympic record (5.96m) on his way to claiming the gold medal. It was the first time an Australian athlete had won a field event gold medal since 1948 and the first Australian Olympic gold of any male track and field event since 1968.

2009 – Steve’s all-conquering run continued in 2009, the Olympic champion winning eight straight competitions throughout the USA, Europe and Australia to launch his 2009 campaign. On February 7 Steve cleared 6.06m at the Boston Indoor Games (USA) to set a new personal best mark and Oceania and national record. Steve cleared the 6m-mark on two other occasions in 2009, at the Millrose Games (USA) in January and the Paris Indoors in February.

Following wins at both the Sydney Track Classic and World Athletics Tour Melbourne Steve withdrew from the national championships due to injury but made a winning return to competition in Lausanne (SUI) in July, clearing 5.75m. A week later Steve suffered his first defeat in almost 12 months, finishing third behind French duo Renaud Lavillenie and Romain Mesil with a clearance of 5.77m, just nine days short of achieving a full year undefeated in the sport.

Steve bounced back to take victory in London on July 24 with a best height of 5.70m.

In a stirring show of Aussie spirit and determination, Hooker overcame a serious tear to his adductor muscle sustained just 10 days ahead of his world championships campaign to take out pole vault gold in Berlin.

2010 - Took victory at the Sydney and Melbourne Track Classics before adding world indoor gold to his resume with a leap of 6.01m in Doha, Qatar.

FAMILY CONNECTIONS
Steve's 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 4x400m at the 1974 Commonwealth Games and won four national crowns.