Hooker Relinquishes Olympic Title
WAIS athlete Steve Hooker has been unable to defend his Olympic title having bowed out without recording a height in the men’s pole vault final.
Despite an up and down season, Hooker appeared to have his head in the right place coming into the Games on the back of clearing 5.72m in Poland last month.
In the qualifier he went through as one of 14 finalists having cleared 5.50m. He passed on that height in tonight’s final choosing to enter the competition at 5.65m.
Hooker got off the ground but pulled out of the jump midflight sailing under the bar and recording his first miss.
On his second attempt, he failed to get off the ground as the pressure mounted on the defending Olympic champion to record a height and keep his dream of back to back gold intact.
He returned to the air for his third and final attempt, clipping the bar and his dream of defending his Olympic title was over.
“It was bitter-sweet but mainly bitter,” said Hooker.
“It was great to be out there – it was an amazing competition. I felt like I could run down and I could put down a jump to clear that bar.”
While his London 2012 campaign threw up a result he was not after, Hooker’s steely resolve shone through admitting he was aiming to continue on.
“It seems so cheap talking about anything after the Olympic Games but from a personal point of view I feel like things are improving every day, every week.
“It is the best I have jumped all year the way I’ve jumped here, the way I’ve prepared, the way I’ve felt in my warmups, the way things have gone in the competition it just doesn’t always come off with clean bar clearances.
I want to continue the season and see where it goes. I just need a bit of validation for the work I have put in.”
Hooker remained on the track as he pumped up the crowd for each of his competitors.
France’s Renaud Lavillenie won the gold with a new Olympic record of 5.97m ahead of German duo Bjorn Otto (5.91m) and Raphael Holdzeppe (5.91m) who claimed the silver and bronze.
After missing his first attempt at 6.02m, Lavillenie raised the bar to 6.07m but could not clear the height beat his 6.03 PB.