Brian Hooper
Encyclopedia
Brian Roger Leslie Hooper (born 18 May 1953) in Sheerwater
Sheerwater
Sheerwater is a large housing estate in Woking, Surrey, England. It is located between West Byfleet and Woking .Sheerwater was designed as a new neighbourhood by the London County Council, with nearly 1,300 homes built in the early 1950s and over 5,000 people settling in the Borough....

, Woking
Woking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....

, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 is a former British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Olympic pole vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...

er, athletics coach and winner of the 1982 World Superstars
Superstars
Superstars is an all-around sports competition that pits elite athletes from different sports against one another in a series of athletic events resembling a decathlon....

 Championship.

Athletics

Brian Hooper was the UK's top pole vaulter from 1974 to 1980, competing in two Olympic Games, two European Athletics Championships and winning the bronze medal at both the 1974 and 1978 Commonwealth Games
1978 Commonwealth Games
The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec...

 representing England.

He won the 1980 Men's AAA / UK Championships pole vault title, setting his personal best height of 5.59m in the same year, which was then the United Kingdom Men's Pole Vault record.

Hooper also held the United Kingdom Masters (Veterans) Pole Vault best performance record, with a leap of 5.01 metres in 1994. He is the current holder of the over-40s age group pole vault record.

Superstars

Hooper is the most successful British and European Superstars
Superstars
Superstars is an all-around sports competition that pits elite athletes from different sports against one another in a series of athletic events resembling a decathlon....

 competitor ever, winning six titles, including becoming the only European to win the World Championship in 1982. He was only defeated in two events (his 1982 and 2004 UK heats), and is the only man to have won three International Superstars titles. Only three times World Champion Brian Budd
Brian Budd
Brian Budd was a Canadian professional soccer player best known for winning the World Superstars competition three years in a row from 1978 to 1980. He was also a soccer sportscaster.-Early years:...

 remained totally undefeated in Superstars contests, and as such Hooper has the second most successful Superstars record of all time.

In 2004 (aged 50) he participated in the UK Championship again, and performed well finishing a very creditable fourth in his heat, winning the kayaking
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...

 event, and finishing runner-up in the golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

. During the 2004 event he was at least 15 years older than all of the other competitors, competed with a torn pectoral muscle and was included in the event as a replacement at only seven day's notice!

Hooper also regularly competed in the Superteams version of the contest, representing "the Athletes", who were undefeated from 1979 to 1984. In 1979 he famously struggled to get on a balance beam during the obstacle course
Obstacle course
An obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual or team must navigate usually while being timed. Obstacle courses can include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, swimming, and balancing elements with the aim of testing speed and endurance. Sometimes a course...

 - almost costing his team the event - while disorientated after completing the sit-ups part of the race. In the years later, Hooper became one of the top British competitors in the obstacle course, regularly leaping the high wall in one stride.

Superstars record

Year Event Position
1982 British Heat 2 3rd
1982 British Final 1st
1982 International 1st
1982 World Final 1st
1983 British Final 1st
1983 International 1st
1984 International 1st
2004 British Heat 4 4th

Personal life

Brian Hooper currently lives in Guilford, Surrey and is a personal fitness coach. He is married and has one daughter.

Achievements

Representing
1976 Olympic Games
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...

Montreal, Canada 16th Pole Vault 5.10m
1980 Olympic Games
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...

Moscow, Soviet Union 11th Pole Vault 5.35 m
Representing
1974 Commonwealth Games Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, New Zealand
3rd Pole Vault 5.00m
Athletics at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games
At the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held at the Queen Elizabeth II Park in Christchurch, New Zealand. A total of 37 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 14 by female athletes.-Men:-Women:-Medal table:Key:...

1978 Commonwealth Games
1978 Commonwealth Games
The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec...

Edmonton, Canada 3rd Pole Vault 5.00m
Athletics at the 1978 Commonwealth Games
At the 1978 Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Canada. A total of 38 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 15 by female athletes.-Men:-Women:-Medal table:Key:-References:...

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