Saturday, August 23, 2008 - 10:57 AM

Steve Hooker has won Australia's 12th gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, setting a Games record of 5.96 metres to win the men's pole vault.

It was the first track and field gold medal for the Australian men's team since Ralph Doubell won the 800m at the 1968 Mexico Games, and the first in the field since John Winter's gold medal in the men's high jump at London 1948.

The 26-year-old Commonwealth champion won the competition when he vaulted 5.90m at his third attempt.

He then went on to break American Tim Mack's previous Olympic record of 5.95m, set at the Athens Games in 2004.

He then opted to call it a night, neglecting to push towards the world record of 6.14m, held by Ukrainian Sergey Bubka.

Russian Evgeny Lukyanenko claimed silver with 5.85m and Ukraine's Denys Yurchenko won bronze with 5.70m on countback.

"The whole competition was mentally and physically the hardest thing I've done in my life," Hooker said.

"It was more like boxing than pole vault.

"I was close to missing 5.80m but I made the big jumps when it counted."

The 26-year-old Victorian said setting an Olympic record had not been his goal.

"I'm just happy to put it together when it counts," he said.

"I didn't care if I jumped an Olympic record or 5.50m. It's all about winning out here.

"However, the Olympic record is really special to me. Tim Mack is a really good friend of mine."

Hooker acknowledged that he had done his nerves no favours by leaving himself until the third attempt at several heights.

"I can't believe it. I was not expecting to see more 'O's than 'X's on my scorecard.

"I didn't expect to be there on my third attempt, and to do it three times, it's very draining.

"I should have skipped the second jumps altogether. They were not working for me.

"I should have gone straight to the third.

"I'm starting to feel like a pretty happy guy. You can probably see the look on my face as I go over the bar on the footage.

"It's like nothing I've ever experienced in my life.

"I stood at the end of the runway before that jump, and it was like something I'd imagined when I was a kid growing up."

'Nerve-wracking'


Australian high performance manager Max Binnington admitted it was a nerve-racking experience watching on.

"When he passed at 5.75, we were worried," he said.

"Steve's always been a bit adventurous, and that's what's got him to those heights.

"It was nerve-wracking for us, but he knew what he was doing."

Mr Binnington said he was pleased to see a new generation of athletes coming to the fore.

"It's been terrific," he said. "Our young athletes are the ones who've come through, and they're the ones we're counting on into the future."

"We expected Steve to be amongst the medals.

"If he hadn't won it I think he would have been very disappointed."