Sports Performer Awards

Fastest, highest, strongest: help pick the winner

Agony and ecstasy … Steve Hooker's painful but world-beating performance in Berlin.

THERE is often one problem with the Oscars, Emmys, or Grammys - there always seems to be more than one nominee who deserves to take home the trophy.

It's the same this year with the Sports Performer Awards, presented by Colonial First State. You would not get too many arguments if any of the 12 nominated athletes won the major prize, and cases can be - and have been - made for each of them, all standouts in their chosen sport.

But, to quote every second award presenter in history, ''there can only be one winner'' and for me that should be Steve Hooker.

What was he doing even competing at the world titles in Berlin? He climbed the mountain last year in Beijing winning gold and this was supposed to be a ''bask in glory, say I've got post-Olympic letdown syndrome, and hit the party scene'' sort of year. Then, when he tore his adductor muscle the week before the championships, that should have been a sign. Walk Away Steve!

But no, Hooker competed against the advice of his doctors and on one leg. Unable to complete a warm-up, he waited and waited and then entered the competition, first missing at 5.85m, then nailing his other jump at 5.90m. Game over. World champion.

''There were definitely thoughts of pulling out, both before and during the competition,'' he said yesterday. ''At every moment it was like a 50-50 thing, whether I would jump or not. In the end I got out there, felt good enough, and gave it a crack.

''It was really, really tough not knowing what to do, what the best strategy would be. The competition itself was hard but the week leading into it was just as hard not knowing what would happen. It was all a bit of a gamble for me.''

Hooker admitted he didn't suffer the dreaded post-Olympic letdown. He took six weeks off and ''then I enjoyed getting back into it and loved it straight away''.

''For me this was my third world championships and at the previous two I'd really under-performed by my own expectations,'' he said. ''I didn't want to make it three from three where I ended up with a result I wasn't happy with. I thought if I could physically run I would be able to jump and I knew I was in good form. I just wanted to give it my best shot.''

As Hooker continues to edge closer to the 6.14m world record of Ukrainian Sergey Bubka, everyone expects that to be his next goal. He says it's not.

''I just look to improve. It's the same with every year, I look to do everything I do in training and competition, better,'' he said.

''That's the same as it's been every year and that's one of the reasons why I have been able to improve. I have short-term goals like Olympics and world championship and that stuff, but ultimately it's all about trying to achieve my potential and that's the focus.''