Aussie pole vaulter Steve Hooker will need a miracle to defend his title

And, even for a period after the Olympics, Hooker looked invincible, winning at the 2009 World Championships and Commonwealth before being struck down by a dreaded case of the yips.

His horror stretch started with a knee injury and reached its nadir when fear set in and he simply couldn’t jump.

Hooker, 30, hopes the toughest two years of his sporting life have a rewarding conclusion in London. But even he accepts that reward might not be an Olympic medal, let alone another gold.

The mental demons are clearing and the confidence is returning, but the defending champion seems resigned to just enjoying the experience of another Olympics.

“The last two years has been the toughest two years of my life in terms of my sport,” Hooker says. “That’s why I’m looking forward to London, that’s the outcome of all the effort and challenges I’ve had.

“I’m looking forward to enjoying the whole experience of going there because it’s going to be a big reward for what has really been a hard slog.”

That slog started with a knee injury in 2010 which kept him out of competition for six months and hit a low when he ran through his three attempts at 5.50 metres at the 2011 World Championships.

Australia’s athletics team captain hadn’t cleared a height in major competition for over a year and when he finally did, it was a lowly 5.00m off a short run up in Adelaide in January this year.

So, the man whose 2009 leap of 6.06m is the second highest in history pulled out of the Australian domestic season.

After taking success for granted for so long, Hooker’s confidence was so shot he retreated to a specially prepared indoor training facility in an old rail shed in Perth to start again.

Hooker insists he trained harder in the two months at that facility than at any other time in his career. He was buoyant when the work paid off; he cleared the Olympic qualifying height of 5.72m at a special event there in May.

“I haven’t stepped on the runway and felt like I owned it like I did tonight for two years,” he said at the time.

With renewed confidence and a secure berth to London he immediately headed for Europe, where the progress has stalled dramatically.

Although Hooker says he’s training well, he hasn’t cleared anything higher than 5.42m in international competition this season, while his rivals are jumping beyond 5.90m.

A month out from the Olympics, he says the thought of winning a medal is not a reality.

Indeed, Hooker’s showing at the London Diamond League meeting two weekends ago tells a tale. For years ago, he cleared 5.97m and, of course, went on to win a gold medal in Beijing.

This year, he failed to clear a height, running through on two of his three attempts.

“It’s been hard, it’s been really hard,” he says. “Every day I turn up to training is a challenge.”

But, as tough as he admits it’s been both physically and mentally, he’s come a long way from feeling “lost on the runway” and is close to the mindset he had when he won Olympic, world and Commonwealth titles between 2008 and 2010.

“I feel like when I’m standing at the end of the runway I’ve got a lot more idea of what’s ahead of me,” he says. “I almost feel like I’m back thinking about similar things.

“And that’s the beginning. Getting that process right in my mind and getting the key messages I want in my head established and consistent.

It’s probably more what happens after that, I’m building consistency but there can be slight variations from one jump to another.