http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24618026-5017910,00.html
Party's over for Games high-flyer
ON Tuesday, Steve Hooker was hob-nobbing at the Melbourne Cup and given the honour of handing the prized urn to the VRC chairman.
Yesterday, the Olympic pole vault gold medallist had swapped his suit for shorts and was training in Perth, hauling himself up the stairs at Perry Lakes Stadium.
The post-Olympic partying is finally over for Hooker, who lapped up the attention rightly afforded him as the first Australian man to win a gold medal in athletics for 40 years.
Olympic parades, TV appearances with his favourite actors, pats on the back in the street as strangers congratulated him on the clutch jumps that ended in a memorable gold medal. The experience has all been "cool", says Hooker, using his favourite descriptive word. "I have just been enjoying it, making the most of it."
Until Beijing, Hooker was a successful but little-known athlete. Former Olympic long jumper and media commentator David Culbert has had the contract to drum up publicity for athletics in the past few years, and recalls Hooker was one of his biggest challenges.
He was number one pole vaulter in the world in 2006 after winning the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games gold medals, but his timing was always a little unfortunate.
"We had a running joke that Steve always won something on the day that someone else did something better," Culbert says.
"He won the World Cup when (Craig) Mottram beat (Kenenisa) Bekele, he would be in Europe and Jana (Rawlinson) would win. He always played second fiddle."
Not any more. Not after his dramatic win in a daredevil event, sporting ginger curls and a headband. The moment was topped off when his coach, Alex Parnov, leapt the fence and ran on to the track barefoot. "One of the things that has appealed to people is the manner in which he won, four last-attempt clearances in the final, and then he breaks the Olympic record and Alex runs into his arms," Culbert says.
"It is reality TV at its best, unscripted drama. Australians love that, when you put it on the line and get across it.
"And then, if you are the same bloke you were when you started, it resonates with people - the fact that Steve is humble and respects his opposition."
Hooker, a gold medallist at understatement, says life is "a little bit different than before".
But his parents, Erica and Bill, who both represented Australia in athletics, and his friends, have not let it go to his now well-known red head.
"In a purely superficial way my life has changed quite a lot," Hooker said yesterday.
"I have been going to some cool functions and meeting lots of people I probably otherwise would not have met but all the important stuff, my relationships with my family and friends, hasn't changed at all."
He resumed training with Parnov in Perth four weeks ago and his body has been protesting.
"The amount of time you've had off catches up with you, so it has been more difficult than normal."
Hooker is taking it slowly, honing his fitness, power and stability, and hasn't started vaulting yet. He will next compete at the European indoor season early next year and during the Australian domestic season in late February and March.
In an event that combines complicated technique with strength, Hooker believes he can break the world record of 6.14m, set by Sergey Bubka in 1994.
"The gold medal is one of the things I wanted to achieve, but it is not the only thing."