Pole vault champion Steve Hooker, and his wife Katya Kostetskaya, welcomed their first child this week, and have named their son Maxim. Maxim is from a Russian form of Maximus.
Steven or “Steve” is the second-highest pole-vaulter in history, and has won gold at the 2008 Olympics and two Commonwealth Games. He comes from an athletic family, because his mother Erica was an Olympian, and a Commonwealth Games medallist in long jump, and his father Bill represented Australia at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in the 800 metres and relay.
Yekaterina or “Katya” is a Russian track athlete who has competed at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. Like Steve, she has an athletic mum, because her mother, Olga Dvirna, is a retired middle distance runner. Kayta and Steve met at the Beijing Olympics, and were married in 2012. Early this year, they relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in the United States.
