Erica Hooker (née Nixon; born 15 December 1953) is a retired Australian athlete who was best known as a

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er and

pentathlete A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

. She competed for Australia at one Olympic Games and two Commonwealth Games, winning a silver medal at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

in Edmonton. Erica won 4 National Long Jump titles, from 1973-76. Also she won 5 Heptathlon Australian titles as well. Nixon married Australian 800 metres runner Bill Hooker in the mid 1970s. Their son

Steven Hooker Steven Leslie Hooker OAM (born 16 July 1982) is an Australian former pole vaulter and Olympic gold medalist. His personal best, achieved in 2008, is making him the fourth-highest pole vaulter in history, behind Sergey Bubka, Renaud Lavillenie ...

has become a highly regarded

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

er.

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External links

Athletics Australia profile
1953 births Living people Australian female long jumpers Olympic athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Australian pentathletes Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Place of birth missing (living people) Australian Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Australian sportswomen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics {{Australia-athletics-bio-stub

See also

References

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