THIS is the secret training facility which has saved Steve Hooker’s Olympic campaign.
Over the past three months the reigning Olympic pole vault champion has been locked away in his ‘Bat Cave’, a converted historic railway workshop in suburban Perth.
After pulling out of the domestic season with a severe case of the yips, Hooker has been able to get his mojo back thanks to the state-of-the-art facility which was constructed for him by his major sponsor Red Bull.
“I love it out here,” Hooker said yesterday.
“It really couldn’t have turned out any better.”
At the end of 2010, Red Bull asked Hooker what they could do to help him win gold in London. He suggested an indoor training facility.
With the assistance of the Western Australian Government, a site was found at the old Midland Railway yards and by March it was up and running.
The massive shed includes 100m of runway with a double-ended pit in the middle and the ability to use various platforms on the runway to alter the conditions.
Each jump is recorded by a high-tech video feedback system which instantly spits out biomechanical information.
The ability to do large volumes of training at any time of the day or night has essentially saved the 29-year-old from having to abort his quest for back-to-back Olympic gold medals.
“I have been able to rack up pretty much close to a 1000 jumps since I pulled out of the Australian season (in January),” Hooker said.
He is aiming to do a practice competition in the Red Bull warehouse next month before his first international competition at the Shanghai Diamond League meet on May 19.
“What I have been doing at training in terms of performances off my short approaches are as good or better than anything I have ever done in my life,” he said.
“I jumped 5.20m, which is a massive height off just six steps. My full approach is 18 steps which we will be working off in a month’s time.”
Hooker – who is the second highest vaulter in history following his 6.06m leap in 2009 – has until June 11 to jump the A-qualifying standard of 5.72m and book his place in London.
“I now feel confident on the runway again,” he said. “I feel in control. I feel very confident turning up to every session and working on all the technical elements every day here.
“It’s probably the first time in the last two years that I have been genuinely excited that the Olympics are on the horizon.”
Gullan, S. (2012). The Telegraph.
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