MINI: Steve Hooker Chat

This morning we caught up with Steve Hooker live from Paris!

Hear all the latest, Steve's tips and highlights coming up in The Games

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Christ Yeah, welcome friends to the Christian O'Connell Show podcast.
Monday morning is to Christian O'Connell's show. So we're into
the last week of the Games in Paris, and by
an extraordinary chance, I've got a new neighbor five doors down.
A couple of months ago, Steve Hooker moved in. Now.
Steve Hooker won gold in the pond vault in two
thousand and eight at the Games in two thousand and

(00:21):
eight in Beijing. So Steve is actually part of the
Channel nine coverage. You can hear him this week commentating
all the track events. And Steve is live in Paris
right now. Steve Hooker, are you.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
There, Christian? How are you mad? We're good?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
So take us through first of all, before we get
into the athletes and what's going on this week, describe
to us and what the games are like in Paris.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Pretty amazing here. Actually, Paris itself is quiet. It's safe
and quiet. It's safe and quiet as I ever seen that.
So if you're a tourist in Paris, you can get
straight up to the apple cower. He gets streightded to love.
It's pretty amazing. But I would just like the track
and field tonight and tonight was tonight we run Stilburn
Bronze and the women tire jump and Noah Lyles one
one hundred meters. It was pretty unforgettable evening to start

(01:03):
the front.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
And so what can we get excited about over the
next couple of days because your old event is coming up,
isn't it? In about twenty four hours time?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, that's right, Curtis Marshall takes on the greatest of
all time Mondo to planters and bear in mind is
the greatest of all time at twenty four years age,
so there's a long time ago to elaborate on that
to him. But yeah, Curtis goes up against Mondo tomorrow night.
Curtis won a world championship medal last year, so he's
a big chance to back that up. So we'll all
be rooting to him.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
And what do you think the plant is going to get?
I was seeing some of it yesterday. He's just so
much better than everybody else.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
He's firstly faster. He runs over ten meters a second,
so that's pretty quick.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
He does over ten meters a second.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
He runs ten meters a second holding a five meter
twenty piece of fiberglass and had to get that into
a plant box that's thirty centimeters wide. So it's pretty
phenomenal what he does. But he also does all of
that super smooth. He's been pop volting since he was
five years old old. His dad was a five meter
eighty pole volter. His mum was an elite hat athlete
from Sweden, so that he's coaching team as well. There's

(02:06):
a complete natural and he's a genetic freak and I
love watching it, even though it makes me feel quite
bad about myself.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
In shade on your what did you do six oh six?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Or is that you've got your goal amazingly? Six six?
You know, nearly thirty centimeters la twenty centimeters longer than
what he's down firth. Okay, now, what do you mean he.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Was pole vaulting from the age of five. What's the
what's he doing jumping over the bed or a mattress.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, well, he had a pole volt pit in his backyard.
So his older brother's pole vaulted, and he grew up
in Louisiana and had a yeah, pole volt pit in
the backyard, so just had a pull in his hands
his whole life.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
That is crazy. I want to see this level of
dedication with you coaching your own kids. Now, see because
Steve lives down the road for me, I want to
see your kids pole vaulting in the backyard.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well we shout of we should have have a little bit. Yeah,
we had a little pole vault in our front yard,
not a fool's pit like Mondo, but a few little mats,
so they've they've had to play with it. My two
oldest boys, four year old actually has done a bit
broomstick povot, so he's a year ahead of Mondo. So
afulle how that goes?

Speaker 1 (03:03):
What a strange sight to stand in Christian's backyard and
see Steve Hooker's children volding three fences down. And so
what else are you looking forward to this week? Because
obviously Australia have just had an amazing week in the
pool the beer Max thing. There have been so many
golden moments, size amazing run over the weekend. What are
the other highlights that people can still get excited about

(03:24):
because I think we've got greedy Now we've been spoiled
last week with just how many golds for Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, I've got a few things for that. Look, I
don't know if it'll be gold, but I feel like
we've got some podiums coming up, certainly some goals, and
I'm covering a field event on the Channel nine, so
you to tune in and watch those, Curtis, Tomorrow is
a real chance. Tomorrow morning, Nina Kennedy and the polevot
women's side kicks off and she's a gold medal favorite.
And then we've got the women's javeling and we've got
three metal chances, and probably right now mckenzi little is
the gold medal favorite in women's javelin as well, and

(03:52):
Matt Denny. Matt Denny kicks off his campaign tomorrow morning
in the discuss as well, and he's our metal favorite
as well. So we've got plenty coming up in the athletics,
in the field.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Brillimp Steve, Before we go, just tell me this what
is it? Have you had the what the hell is
that you stood in the middle of the radio interview
with Melbourne? Please gend noisiest bits of Paris to speak
to us. Steve.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
I've got one thing for you before I go. It's
been tomorrow. Can you can you put my beIN out
for me? Mate?

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yes? Of course, Yeah, Tuesday nights. It's the recycling one, Steve,
So I'll drag your bins out the sign. I won't
disrupt the pole vaulting set up. You've got levers.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
We up the front yard, leave the poplot seting up alone.
And yeah, the recycling great.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, I'll get the whip snipper as well, because your
hedges are looking a bit rough as well, so I'll
do all of that as well. Steve would catch up
with you later on this week. Please move off the
schonz of all right, cheer Steve. Bye.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
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