Struggling Hooker needs breathing space
Olympic champion pole vaulter Steve Hooker is battling to work through "technical issues" and may miss next month's national trials and the remainder of Australia's athletics series, an athletics official told Reuters.
Hooker, who crashed out of his world championship defence in South Korea last year after failing to clear 5.50 metres, has pulled out of Saturday's Perth Track classic in a bid to find form six months ahead of the LondonOlympics.
"He's just having technical issues," Athletics Australia's high performance manager Eric Hollingsworth said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
"It can change overnight or it can take a month to work out.
"He just needs some breathing space to work out these things and get through it."
Hooker leapt 6.06m indoors in the 2009 season, the second highest ever behind retired world record holderSergei Bubka, but battled through two injury-stricken years before rushing his preparations into a failed world championships campaign at Daegu.
Hooker cleared only 5m at the Adelaide Track Classic at his first meeting since Daegu last month before being timed out of his event as he waited for strong winds to die down.
"I want to go out there and feel that competition energy but unfortunately I just felt a bit flat," Hooker said after that event.
Local media have been sounding the alarm bells, describing Hooker's battles as a crisis of confidence.
Hollingsworth said Hooker had altered his run-up and changed poles in recent months, but felt confident the vaulter would recover in time to find his best form ahead of London.
"I've been through this before with Steve," said Hollingsworth, who worked with Hooker at Victoria state's Institute of Sport prior to his Olympic breakthrough.
"It took about a month to sort out ... It's a very technical and dangerous (sport) and it takes a lot of courage. It's not surprising that (pole vaulters) have these issues."
The March 2-3 Melbourne Track Classic doubles as Olympic trials for Australia's athletics team. Hollingsworth would not be drawn on whether Hooker would compete there.
"I have a gut instinct about that, but I'm not going to get into that now," he said.