Damien Hooper Wins Gold At Youth Olympic Games!

:goodThanks for the reply Link, I read and re read your post and wasn't sure, thanks for putting it straight...lol.
Whichever way you go you've had a taste of what many will never dare to do and with the best in Australia and currently the world, well done.
Good luck with your schooling and England I hope you get the urge over there and have a crack it will add in mountains the experience to your resume you can out of that confidence into just about any other aspect of life...

 

did hooper get interviewed on the radio program

 

and how did it go

 

Can Damien Hooper do it again?


Hope for Hooper as Aussie kids eye gold

by Ian McCullough - SHM - Sept 21 2010


Indigenous teenager Damien Hooper is a "standout" in an extremely young Australian boxing team preparing to slug it out at the Commonwealth Games.

The 10-strong team, including five teenagers, is one the youngest ever assembled for a major Games.

However Australian Institute of Sport assistant boxing coach Don Abnett is confident the team, with an average age of 21, can cause a stir in the Indian capital.

Abnett pinpoints Queensland fighter Hooper as the most talented.

He believes the 18-year-old middleweight from Dalby, 200km west of Brisbane, is good enough to follow in the footsteps of Jarrad Fletcher in 2006, and win gold in this division in Delhi.

He's also confident Hooper has the ability to become the first Australian since Seoul 1988 silver medallist Graham Chesney to claim an Olympic medal at the 2012 London Games.

"Damien is a very good chance of a medal probably our best chance, despite his age," Abnett told AAP.

"At the world youth championships earlier this year he got beaten by an Irishman called Joe Ward in the final.

"He then got to the final at the youth Olympics and he drew Ward again, and this time he beat him and won the gold."

Although Abnett is confident Hooper has the talent to succeed, he is concerned inexperience could work against him, with home favourite and Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh, 24, the red-hot favourite.

"It is going to be a tough division for him with the Indian boy, who is ranked the No.1 senior middleweight in the world, in there," he said.

"But anything is possible with Damien, he is very talented, and like a lot of indigenous fighters, has an awkward but unique style and he hits his opponents with some interesting combinations.

"A lot of the drills he does he's worked on himself, they have not come from me, he is a real talent.

"I have been a coach since 1981 and there is probably only 10 really outstanding boys that I have seen in that time and Damien is one of them.

"He is a standout and with the right attitude and continued commitment he will be a medal chance at the next Olympics."

Abnett is also confident the team's other indigenous representative, 21-year-old Cameron Hammond, from Moree, NSW, can clinch a medal in the 64-69kg welterweight division.

Hammond lost his place at the AIS due to disciplinary reasons last year, before returning, but his coach believes that setback has helped turn him into a better fighter.

"When I started this program in 2007 he was the first fighter I had," Abnett said.

"The first year as a junior he won the national championship and never had a point scored against him.

"He is quick, has a very good eye and is talented. He had a few discipline issues after 18 months here and lost his scholarship, but he has fought his way back brilliantly and showed he really wants to make an impact.

"He had the talent and now he has the hunger and he is definitely a good shout for a medal."

The team also contains 19-year-old twins Jason and Andrew Maloney who are only the third set of twins to represent Australia at a Commonwealth Games.

The Melburnian pair, who only took up boxing four years ago to keep fit for footy, follow cricket great Steve and Mark Waugh (Kuala Lumpar 1998) and cyclists Remo and Sal Sonsonetti (Edmonton 1978).