Paris Olympics 2024: Michael Hooper on his Sevens Rugby goals and eight-year Olympic dream
Michael Hooper’s path to the Paris Olympics is one of the more unusual you could imagine. But it wasn’t something that just materialised after his World Cup snubbing - it’s been in his plans for nearly a decade.
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The Olympic bug bites deeper than most people realise.
Michael Hooper was just eight years old when he first felt it.
His parents had bought tickets to one of the marquee events at Sydney 2000 so they took their young son along for the ride.
“I went to the 100m final. I saw Maurice Greene win the men’s race,” Hooper recalled.
“I don’t know how we got those tickets, but I remember how big it was and that being at that event was pretty, bloody special.”
Seeing the Olympics with his own eyes had an instant, lasting impression on Hooper.
“You could tell it was something very special,” he said.
“It was the only thing people were talking about and it just had a way of making you want to watch things you’d never watched before and suddenly feeling very patriotic about your country.”
Like most Australians, Hooper has always tuned into the Olympics every four years, but never really given much thought to becoming an Olympian himself.
He was already forging his own path to sporting greatness in 15-a-side rugby, achieving milestones that were worthy of a gold medal.
A fearless openside flanker, he made his Australian Test debut in 2012 and was an automatic selection for the national team for the next decade. He toured the world, playing 125 Tests and captained the Wallabies more times than anyone else.
But rugby can also be an unforgiving and sometimes cruel game.
Although he played in the 2015 World Cup final, Hooper’s generation didn’t ever get their hands on the Webb Ellis Cup or even the Bledisloe Cup.
And his plans for a fairytale farewell to the game at last year’s World Cup in France never eventuated when he was controversially left out of Eddie Jones’ final squad.
It was a bitter reminder of just how cutthroat professional sport is but one that opened the door to another possible opportunity that took him right back to his childhood.
The inclusion of Sevens rugby on the Olympic program from 2016 had tweaked his interest but he’d always been too preoccupied with 15s to devote the time to train for it.
So when he found out he was no longer wanted by the Wallabies, he suddenly had all the time in the world so decided to roll the dice and take a shot at making the Australian Sevens team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
By most measures, it remains a bit of a long shot but one with a real glimmer of hope.
After months of battling an achilles injury, Hooper will finally make his international Sevens debut in Hong Kong on Friday, with the stakes already high, just as he likes them.
A good performance at the sport’s most prestigious tournament will certainly boost his chances of making it to the Olympics while a poor showing will leave him racing against time.
“I’m fully aware of that and I’m okay with that. I think I’d regret it more for not having a go,” he said.
“I’m just going to have a good crack at it and see where that lands. And if it doesn’t work out, that’s okay but I’m going to give it a bloody good shake.
“I just see this as a fantastic opportunity because when you really stop and consider that you could go to an Olympic Games, it just changes the mindset.”
Making the squad for Hong Kong has already been a victory of sorts for Hooper, who says he has struggled to adapt to the relentless pace of Sevens.
One of the fittest players in 15-a-side rugby, Hooper was shocked by the speed and endurance needed to compete in the abbreviated game and has quickly developed a much greater appreciation of the skills needed to make it at the top level.
“It’s just completely different and that is a really exciting thing but it’s also quite a bit challenging,” he said.
“It’s out of the norm of what I’ve been used to but it’s given me a new lease on life although there are times when I’ve asked myself ‘what am I doing? Maybe I should have stayed with what I know and tried to ride the gravy train. But this is great. It’s really good fun.”
At 32, Hooper is a late starter to international Sevens and will have to hit the ground running in Hong Kong with the Aussies drawn in the same pool as Fiji, France and Canada.
There are still two more rounds of the World Series to be played after Hong Kong before the final squad for the Olympics is picked but this is the main dress rehearsal.
If Hooper does get selected, he has already made up his mind about one thing, that he will soak up every moment like it’s his last, including taking part in the Opening Ceremony on the River Seine.
“They only take 12 people to the Olympics so I know spots are finite,” Hooper said.
“I probably thought I was going to a World Cup last year but I didn’t so I’m very aware that these things are never a guarantee.
“It’s definitely the carrot but I need to play well and the rest will happen.
“If I do, I’m definitely going to the Opening Ceremony because we’ve got the day off.
“We play our first day of competition two days before then our second the day one day before. Then it’s a day off for the Opening Ceremony then the gold medal.
“I reckon we can fit it all in.”
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