Hooker flies to gold medal

Whoa - last night was really something! Steve Hooker won a gold medal for pole vault at Beijing. To win he had to clear 5.90m and bombed out on his first two attempts at that height. I began to think the gold medal might already be in the hands of the only other competitor left in contention - Russian star Yevgeniy Lukyanenko - but Steve pulled out all the stops and secured the medal on his final attempt. Talk about putting on a show - it was very stressful just watching it!

It's Australia's first gold medal for athletics since Sydney and Australia's first male gold medallist since Ralph Doubell in 1968. What a worthy winner we have in Steve Hooker. Go Australia! :D