GOLD medal winners Steve Hooker and Matthew Mitcham have been named joint-winners of this year's Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Don Award.

Hooker narrowly avoided elimination in the men's pole-vault final at the Beijing Olympics to pull off a thrilling win, also breaking the Olympic record by clearing 5.96 metres, while Mitcham secured his gold with a near-perfect final dive that earned him the highest-ever score for a single dive — 112.10.

--------------------- GALLERY: Alfie Langer's career ---------------------

The award was presented to the athletes at the hall of fame's induction ceremony at the Crown Entertainment Complex last night.

Veteran horse trainer Bart Cummings had his status as a giant of the Australian sporting landscape acknowledged with his elevation to legend status.

Cummings, 80, has been training horses for more than half-a-century. In that time he has won the Melbourne Cup a record 11 times. Cummings becomes just the 28th sporting champion to be made a legend in the hall of fame's 25-year history.

And eight more Australian sporting champions were inducted at last night's ceremony.

Swimming legend Ian Thorpe became one of the youngest sportsmen ever to become a hall of famer. At 25, Thorpe is no stranger to the "youngest ever" title — his career is littered with them. At 14 he became the youngest male to ever represent Australia, at 15, the youngest male to hold a world championship title. Five Olympic gold medals and 22 world records later, Thorpe now has his name ceremoniously added to the ranks of Australian sporting champions, though he will have to settle for the honour of being the third youngest man to be inducted, behind swimmer Duncan Armstrong and weightlifter Dean Lukin.

"It really is a tremendous honour for any athlete to be involved in something like this," Thorpe said at the unveiling of his plaque at the national sporting museum at the MCG yesterday.