Steve Hooker - World Champion

posted by rtross on August 16, 2009, 2:07am

"I can't really believe it. It's been a crazy fortnight. Qualifying was difficult, it was difficult to get through. To have this result tonight, I can't believe it. These guys have been vaulting well all year. I thought maybe I would have been able to come out and get 5.85m on the first attempt and get maybe a bronze."

"Early on [in the final] I thought that there was no way I was going to jump, it was quite sore during my warm up. I went in and got some treatment from the doctor, when the boys were jumping 5.65m, and as that kicked in, I thought I was more and more of a chance of jumping."

"As this injury has developed we've realised there's probably less muscular stuff involved [in the injury] than we initially thought, and there's more neural stuff, and we just shut that nerve off, and I was able to get down the runway pretty well."

"I can't believe that I put up such a good attempt in the first attempt [at 5.85m], I was pretty devestated when it was a miss though, it would have been good if it had been just a rubbish jump and I hadn't cleared it, but it was a really really good attempt, it just wasn't quite good enough for 5.85m. I was just happy that there was enough left in me that I could do that second jump. I made some pretty good improvements to my run up on that second jump, and the way I lowered the pole, and that was enough to get me over. It felt like a good jump as well, but I haven't seen it yet!"

"Just thinking about that moment [the emotions] are coming back a bit now. It's been a very challenging couple of weeks, I've tried to be as honest as possible with everyone during that process, and you've all been through that journey with me. But it's been ten times worse from my perspective. Every day it was a question of whether I would jump or not, and going to sleep at night wasn't the easiest thing, I've been sleeping like hell. But good people around me have helped me make smart decisions, and that's what got me through."

[Could you have jumped again if you had to?]

"I can't answer that, I don't know, I might have blown something off halfway down the runway - I'm glad it didn't come to that."

"I thought I would have one jump in me like in the qualifying competition. In qualifying, after 5.65m I had nothing left, I wouldn't have been able to get down the runway. After the first miss tonight I thought that was it. I walked around a bit and I felt better. I can't answer if there was a third one in me, I don't know."

"I think I've proven something to myself by this working out the way it has. I've got a lot more in me, and I know that if I can do jumps like this under these circumstances, then when I'm healthy, when I've got good conditions, massive jumps are not out of the question, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do next year."

"Dani definitely ignited The Flame and took a lot of pressure off. She's such a young competitor and to do what she did under pressure was just fantastic. I thought if I was able to compete at half that intensity, I would be alright."

[Did you think about waiting until one jump would have been certain to win?]

"That could have been six metres. The way these guys were jumping, it could have been 6.10m or 6.16m. The strategy wasn't to win but to get a medal, so I came in at 5.85m. To have enough left for a second jump was a surprise to me."