Steve Hooker has already developed a serious liking for competing in London, long before the 2012 Olympics.
The pole vault supremo has the chance to once again reach great heights in the capital at the Diamond League meet at Crystal Palace on Friday.
He cleared 5.97m at the south London venue just weeks before landing the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won last year’s competition at Crystal Palace.
The reigning world champion must wait at least another 12 months before performing at the 2012 Olympic stadium, the Stratford venue scheduled for completion during the 2011 northern summer.
But Maurie Plant, a key member of Hooker’s team, said he was ideally suited to putting up with London’s unpredictable weather.
“The thing about London, it is a little bit like a Melbourne-style climate,” Plant said. “Not as hot but you can have that changeable weather.
“At the end of the day, Steve was brought up in Melbourne so he knows what it is like to have a bit of wind and a bit of rain and stuff like that.
“That is not going to faze him. he jumps well in the rain. He is very, very good in all conditions.”
A refreshed Hooker has had a month out of top-flight competition but showed some good form by clearing 5.80m at a recent club meet in Germany.
He had some dramas flying to London on Wednesday night, having to find a fresh flight out of Cologne that was prepared to carry his poles.
Such delays are a constant annoyance for pole vaulters and Hooker has poles based in Australia, the United States and in Europe.
Two months out from his Commonwealth Games title defence in Delhi, Hooker will take on in-form Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie in one of the more intriguing battles at Crystal Palace.
Hooker leads a strong Australian contingent in London including Olympic 100m hurdles silver medallist Sally Pearson, reigning world indoor long jump champion Fabrice Lapierre and rising middle distance runner Ryan Gregson (mile).
Pearson is coming off a superb performance in the 100m hurdles in Stockholm last weekend.
She won in Sweden in a time of 12.57 and in the process defeated the two quickest women in the world in the event this year in Canadian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and American Lolo Jones.
Craig Mottram and Collis Birmingham are both entered in the 3000m.
The London meet lost a fair chunk of its star power this week with Usain Bolt’s decision to skip the rest of the year to recover from a lower back injury.
In his absence, American Tyson Gay will square off against Jamaican Asafa Powell in the 100m.
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