Hooker is next Aussie Superstar

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 23,00.html

Pole vaulter is our next superstar

By Mike Hurst
August 03, 2007 12:00am
IN less than a month pole vaulter Steve Hooker could just be Australia's next sporting superstar - yet the majority of fans wouldn't know who the h*** he is.

Overnight the 25-year-old Victorian won for the fourth time in a month on the road in Europe in an event notorious for inconsistent performances due to the risks involved.

As legendary baseballer Babe Ruth used to say, by way of explanation of his occasional failures "you swing big, you miss big".

Much the same could be said of the vaulters, that special breed of athlete who put their life on the line every time they compete.



And in just over three weeks Hooker will go for gold at the 11th world athletics championships in Osaka, Japan.

Maybe then he will win the public kudos which has escaped him, even though he was merit-ranked world No. 1 vaulter in 2006 after he won the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the World Cup in Athens.

Perhaps his poor profile is in part down to the coincidence that whenever he has won big, the far more effervescent personalities like Jana Rawlinson (formerly Pittman), Craig Mottram or John Steffensen have also won on the same day.

Hooker cleared a relatively modest 5.70m at the Folksam Grand Prix in Gothenburg, Sweden, overnight and jumped on a plane home.

He is returning to Perth where he will fine-tune his preparations for the world titles starting on August 25 in Osaka, Japan.

In Perth he will resume training in an elite all-Australian squad which includes the world No. 2 vaulter and World Athletics Final winner Paul Burgess, world youth champion Vicky Parnov and Commonwealth champion Kym Howe - who are all coached by Alex Parnov.

"This was my third comp in a week, the worst result being second and the worst height being 5.70m, so it's coming along quite nicely," Hooker said after completing his seventh event on tour, six of which saw him mount the podium.

[rainbowgirl28]

I think this is the first time I have had to filter a word that came straight from a print newspaper

[tdtb]

We'll see