Hooper’s personal demons endanger golden dream

Australian light heavyweight boxer Damien Hooper’s talent is not in question, but his ability to stay out of trouble is.

The 20-year-old’s latest misdemeanour on his Olympics debut suggests he himself is the biggest obstacle to winning his country’s first boxing medal since Graham Cheney’s silver in the light welterweight division in 1988.

The 20-year-old is a free spirit but his impressive victory over his highly-rated American opponent Marcus Browne was overshadowed by his wearing of a T-shirt featuring the Aboriginal flag.

It was in direct contravention of International Olympic Committee rules, which do not allow flags of nations or peoples not competing at the Games to be displayed.

However, Hooper, who received a warning from his National Olympic Committee (NOC), was unrepentant.

“I’m an Aborigine representing my culture and my people here at the Olympic Games,” a defiant Hooper said.

“That’s what I wanted to do and I’m happy I did it. I was just thinking about my family and that’s what really matters to me.

“Look what it just did – it just made my whole performance a lot better with that whole support behind me.”

Hooper, son of an Aborigine mother and a white father, but largely brought up by his grandmother Lilian, has a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of personal victory as he illustrated in 2010.

Having just become the first Australian to win a junior world title, when he triumphed at the Youth Olympics in Singapore, he was sent home early from the Commonwealth Games for allegedly dropping his trousers in front of an official.

Even before the London Games he put his ambitions at risk by leaving a training camp despite head coach Don Abnett ordering him to stay.

“I wasn’t feeling comfortable in the camp,” he told The Age newspaper earlier this month.

“Because it’s the biggest thing in my life, I didn’t want any regret and to feel uncomfortable going into London. I just wanted to go home because I just wanted to see my family.”