Hooker Pre-Olympic Articles

[patchdoggydogg]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/latest-news/ ... 50886.html

OLYMPIC history is in Steve Hooker's sights - anything less and he fears he'll kiss goodbye to a gold medal. Hooker is one of three leading contenders in the pole vault who are aiming to surpass six metres for the first time in Games competition.

Having cleared the magical mark in January, Hooker's claims on gold are not unrealistic, although two rivals can say the same thing this season. Reigning world champion Brad Walker, of the United States, and Russian Yevgeniy Lukyanenko have cleared 6.04m and 6.01m respectively going into Beijing.

With the standard of pole vaulting so high, Hooker believes, it won't be long before Sergey Bubka's world record of 6.14m will fall...

[KirkB]

From the Sydney Morning Herald on the lilnk above:

Hooker treated his final pre-Beijing meeting, the London Grand Prix, as a "mock" Olympic final. He was narrowly beaten by Lukyanenko (5.97m) on countback. However, Hooker felt he jumped "better" than his two main rivals. His technique - a technique he overhauled at the start of 2007, and that fell apart at the world championships last year when he finished ninth with 5.76m - has come together.

Does anyone know what changes he's made in his technique since "the start of 2007"?

I saw some of his vids this year, and he has a really nice "continuous chain" swing/extension. Classic Petrov model, I think. (?) With Parnov as his coach, this should not be surprising.

But I have no reference to how he looked in 2006 or before. How is he vaulting differently now?

Kirk

[rainbowgirl28]

But I have no reference to how he looked in 2006 or before. How is he vaulting differently now?

This is what he looked like before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TngAOaK9T4

[Rhino]

But I have no reference to how he looked in 2006 or before. How is he vaulting differently now?

This is what he looked like before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TngAOaK9T4

Yes, I notice a definite improvement in his technique!

[achtungpv]

I hope he's fixed his overstriding problem. I think that's what caused him to bail out on so many jumps the past couple of years.

[KirkB]

Yeh, I saw that in my YouTube search prior to my post! Pretty funny - poor guy! But I'm looking for a serious answer to my query.

Here's his 2006 Commonwealth Games winning 5.80 jump in Melbourne (and also his World Cup win in 2006): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjZRz3SqhaE

Here's another version of the 2006 CG win, plus some interesting "box cam" shots, and a nice try at 6.01: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG8kjSK3rZc&NR=1

And here's (allegedly) his first 6.00 clearance in Perth in Feb/2008. This appears to be a practice vault. There's no one in the stands, and there's 2 guys holding the bar in place until after he clears it. The quality of this vid is very poor - I can't even be sure that it's Hooker. Thus the claim that it's his first 6.00 clearance is questionable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMiMEw7J1Q4

Here's his March 3, 2008 World Indoor Championships (in Valencia) 5.70 clearance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKDXwsYOE1o&feature=related

Here's a Valencia 5.80 miss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCBn5O2gyjE&feature=related

Here's his town square win at 5.80 in Jackgrim Germany in late June or early July, 2008: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24023319-5014197,00.html

But I'm still not aware of what technique improvements he's made since 2006.

Here's a good summary of his bio and stats, including his Annual Progression: http://www.athletics.com.au/fanzone/athleteprofiles/steve_hooker

It does give me the clue that he moved to Perth after 2006 to train under Parnov, so I guess we should be looking for improvements towards the Petrov model.

I'll have to download each vid, and watch them in slo-mo - especially the most recent Jackgrim one. Actually, I really like his technique! It looks quite similar Mike Tully. I saw Tully's early 1980s 18-6 vid last month here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmOXBiYvS7s

That may take me awhile, so any other observations from any of his fans or "followers" are greatly appreciated.

Kirk

[SlickVT]

On a side note... checkout Dmitri's vault at around 2:15 and see how much he is bending the pole on the ground.

Craziness. Its a shame he had injury problems or it would have gotten very interesting.

[vaultman18]

On a side note... checkout Dmitri's vault at around 2:15 and see how much he is bending the pole on the ground.

Not sure what you are talking about. It doesn't appear to be bent, but the quality is not good enough to tell anyway.

[SlickVT]

I was being sarcastic. He is more than a foot off the ground before the pole hits.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/08/ ... digitalxml

Hooker on an 18-step path to higher glory
Jessica Halloran in Hong Kong | August 10, 2008

SO, WHAT does it feel like to flip yourself upside down and over a bar at a ridiculously high height of six metres?

"Easy," Steve Hooker says. "Easy is how it feels. When you pull it all off you think, 'I just jumped a really high bar easily and it felt like I didn't do anything'."

Sprinting with a pole, eyeing that precariously balanced bar, placing the pole in the box, flinging all 187 centimetres of himself forward and upward, then twisting and falling - yes, executing all this can be simple. "It's not like it's hard work at all," Hooker said.

The man with the corkscrew curls has made no secret of wanting to break the world record of 6.14 metres, but before that he wants gold. Word among the vaulting fraternity is that Hooker has the best technique of the three main contenders for the ultimate Olympic medal.

In the most technically challenging track and field event, Russian Yevgeniy Lukyanenko is said to be the most consistent vaulter, world champion American Brad Walker the most powerful, but Hooker? His vault is said to be technically the best.

Hooker said when his vault is working perfectly it's supposed to feel easy - but he sometimes wonders whether it's technically the best of the lot.

"I know what I'm working towards and I think I'm close to having it perfect," he said.

"But it's really difficult to know if it's good when you're really close to it ...

"I see the faults in what I'm doing more than the good stuff but I feel like those faults seem to be less and less."

Just four years ago Hooker cleared just 5.30 and failed to make the Olympic final in Athens, placing 28th.

His memories of Athens are of being amazed by American Tim Mack's performance in the Olympic final. Mack jumped the Olympic record to win the gold: 5.95.

The problem was, four years ago at those Olympics other coaches quietly laughed at Hooker's technique. He had only a 12-step run-up while everyone else took 18.

After winning the Commonwealth Games gold in 2006 he moved to Perth to train under Alex Parnov. He now has an 18-step run-up and feels it's finally all coming together.

"I feel like I have that self-confidence now, where I can stand at the end of the runway, I know basically what's going to happen as soon as I start my run-up," he said.