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Hooker looks to Berlin glory
As you read this Steve Hooker is on his way to
Germany to set up his training base for the 2009 world track and
field titles, a campaign he hopes will bring him his first world
championships medal.
The pole vault star and Beijing Olympic gold medallist this week
took time out from the training track to update fans on his plans
for the European season and his tilt at Berlin glory.
“My competition programme is settled - Lausanne on July 7, Reims on July 14, London on July 25 and Stockholm on July 31," Hooker said.
"They’re all venues where you can jump high. Four meets is probably the right fit for me, I like to feel like I build towards a major championship."
Hooker, 26, will base himself in Cologne with fellow vaulter Paul Burgess and pole vault guru Alex Parnov in the lead-up to the Berlin titles, to be held from August 15-23.
“We’re renting an apartment (in Cologne). There’ll be four of us: myself, Paul Burgess, (physiotherapist) Shane Kelly and (coach) Alex Parnov.
“I like the idea of an apartment better than a hotel. You can cook for yourself and have your own space.
“Cologne is an interesting place, lots of things to do. It’s got its traditional architecture, but the majority was re-built after the war.
“We’ll actually be training at the Leverkusen facility, about 10 minutes down the road from Cologne. It’s a bit of a pole vault mecca. At any time you wander in there might be 10 of the world's top 20 working out.
“As an athlete, I don’t have as much spare time as you’d think, after training, recovery and physio. I like to go out and wander around a bit, maybe buy the ingredients to cook our meals so we’re always eating fresh stuff.
“The four of us don’t really have assigned roles. We share the housekeeping roles and everyone plays their part.
“As far as free time, I listen to a bit of music. We usually take away some DVDs and get through a couple of television series. I read a bit and we take a couple of guitars so we can muck around playing our own music as well.
“Cologne has a pretty good entertainment scene. I don’t know too many German bands but maybe I’ll get to hear a couple of them.
“The Australian team is going to have its final pre-Berlin training camp in Cologne, too. Once the team arrives, we’ll be starting to get into that final preparation. We will be going to Berlin by bus on August 11 so it will be good travelling together as a team, a bit of team bonding.
“Berlin has been a good place for me. I jumped 5.96m there in 2006 to win the Golden League meet. It’s a good place to jump with a great crowd."
Hooker, who placed ninth at both his first world championships outing in Helsinki in 2005 and second appearance in Osaka in 2007, has this year set his sights on gold.
“I’m as hungry as I was last year. I’ve never won a world
championship medal and I want to do that - hopefully a gold
one."
Steve
Article courtesy of the IAAF
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