Just four years after he was declared a national hero in Beijing, Steve Hooker has been branded a “disappointment” by his own boss.
Athletics Australia President Rob Fildes has declared the pole vaulter the biggest frustration of the London Olympics, saying his failure to perform was disappointing no matter how you looked at it.
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“He is a disappointment,” Fildes told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I am clear in that. From my point of view he is a disappointment.
“You can’t have the Olympic champion, world champion, Commonwealth champion and see him no height and not be disappointed. I am an open bloke. I am disappointed. I am more than disappointed.”
Fildes said the Australian track and field team lacked the “hunger” for gold that many other country’s athletes had.
He said the majority of our athletes were happy just to make the team, and weren’t trying hard enough to win.
“The middle to top range of athletes haven’t quite been able to step up from their world championship performances and we’ve under-performed with the bulk of our distance runners, with no-one making a final,” Fildes said.
“And the throwers … that’s the thing that is disappointing from my point of view. There weren’t enough of our team lifting themselves above the ordinary.”
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Fildes comments are likely to outrage Australian sports fans. Twitter and Facebook have been flooded with complaints about the pressure put on athletes to win and accusations that the media treats anything less than gold a failure.
Your say: Do you think we put too much pressure on our athletes?
Video: Hooker ‘too scared’ to jump
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