STEVE Hooker’s resurgence has come crashing back to earth after he failed to clear a height in his return to international competition. The reigning Olympic pole vault champion couldn’t get over 5.30m in three attempts at Saturday night’s Diamond League meet in Shanghai.It’s a major disappointment for Hooker, who just a week earlier had booked a spot at the London Games after clearing 5.72m at a specially sanctioned event at his private indoor training facility in Perth.The no-height performance again raises question marks about his confidence levels, which hit rock bottom at the start of the year when he was forced to take time away from the circuit to cure a bad case of the yips.His first appearance back on the big stage wasn’t helped by the wet conditions in Shanghai, which dramatically affected the pole vault event won by China’s Yang Yansheng with 5.65m. Hooker’s no-height performance was similar to his disappointing effort at last year’s world championships in Daegu, South Korea. He will now go to the Australian team’s training base in Cologne before opening his European season at the next Diamond League meet in Rome on May 31.
