07.10.2009

Hooker, Samuels in line for top honour

On the back of a hugely successful year for Australian athletics two of the shining lights of track and field have been named finalists for the prestigious Don Award, to be announced at the 25th Anniversary Sport Australia Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Dinner this Thursday night.

Of the six finalists named for this year’s award two hail from track and field disciplines, with world pole vault title-holder Steve Hooker and world champion discus thrower Dani Samuels in line for the honour.

The two Australian Flame representatives join horse racing great Bart Cummings, Formula One gun Mark Webber, tennis ace Jelena Dokic and swimming sensation Jessicah Schipper in the running for the 2009 award.

The nomination marks Hooker’s second tilt at the prize in as many years after the 27-year-old was named joint winner of the Don Award in 2008. Hooker took out his first honour, awarded to the athlete whose achievements over the past year have inspired the nation, following his Olympic victory in Beijing. He was named alongside diver and fellow Beijing gold medallist Matthew Mitcham.

Following last year’s Olympic win Hooker’s all-conquering run has continued in 2009, the Perth-based athlete winning eight straight competitions throughout the USA, Europe and Australia to launch his 2009 campaign.

On February 7 this year Hooker cleared 6.06m at the Boston Indoor Games (USA) to set a new personal best mark and new Oceania and national record. He has cleared the coveted 6m-mark on two other occasions in 2009, at the Millrose Games (USA) in January and the Paris Indoors (FRA) in February.

Following wins at both the Sydney Track Classic and World Athletics Tour Melbourne, Hooker withdrew from the March national championships to injury but made a winning return to competition in Lausanne (SUI) in July. A week later he suffered his first defeat in almost 12 months, finishing third just nine days short of achieving a full year undefeated in the sport.

In August, in the biggest test of his career to date, Hooker overcame a torn adductor muscle to take out gold at the 12th IAAF world championships in Berlin. Entering the competition at 5.85m Hooker missed his first attempt then passed on that height before sailing over 5.90m in the next round to seal victory.

The world champion said his nomination for a second consecutive Don Award was a huge honour and a great result for Australian athletics.

“The Don Award is for me a very special award, it was an amazing experience to win it last year so to be nominated for a second year is a real honour,” Hooker said.

“There’s been some amazing performances by Australian sportspeople over the year and it's fantastic to be considered amongst the best of them.

“It was the best ever world championships result for an Australian team and I think that’s reflected in both Dani and myself being nominated for this award.”

In what has been an action-packed year for the pole vault star, Hooker conceded his win in Berlin was hard to overlook as the highlight.

“The two highlights for me were jumping the Australian record of 6.06m and winning in Berlin. In terms of how difficult it was and the challenges it presented, winning in Berlin is probably just edging out the Australian record but both mean a lot to me,” he said.

Samuels’ 2009 campaign has also impressed, the New South Wales throws specialist posting wins over Olympic champion Stephanie Brown Trafton in Sydney and Melbourne before taking out the shot put-discus double at the national championships in Brisbane in March. In July she won gold in the discus throw at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia, stitching up victory with a throw of 62.48m.

Undefeated across six competitions in the lead-up to Berlin, Samuels claimed a stunning victory over then-world discus champion Franka Dietzsch in Germany in late July, her first win over her German rival.

In August Samuels became the youngest world discus title-holder in history and Australia’s first ever female world champion in the field when she posted a career best 62.95m - a massive 2.49m ahead of her previous best - to claim gold in Berlin.

She went on to place fifth in the season-ending World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki, Greece, last month.

On the back of an outstanding year in the sport Samuels said her nomination for the Don Award was a true honour.  

“Being in the same class as some of the other athletes that are nominated and have won it in the past, it’s quite an honour,” she said.

“It sounds like a cliché but it really is exciting for me to be nominated. Steve Hooker has won the Olympics and he’s won the world champs and my name is right next to his so it's just a privilege to be recognised for what I have achieved this year.”

The five-time national discus champion said it was hard to look past Berlin as the highlight of her year.

“I didn't have too many major competitions this year, I just had to find some little ones in Europe in the lead-up to the world champs and Berlin was always the goal so I don't think I can go past that in my career actually, it's probably the highlight of my career and that’s definitely why I think I’ve been nominated,” she said.

“It's great for athletics because we're starting to win medals on the world stage and it's great for us to be recognised within the sport and within Australia.”

Past track and field athletes to have been named recipients of the Don Award include marathon runners Kerryn McCann (2006) and Heather Turland (1998), and 400m star Catherine Freeman (2000).