Sam Quek

Sam Quek

Quek at the 2015 EuroHockey Championship
Personal information
Birth name	Samantha Ann Quek
Nationality	British
Born	18 October 1988 Wirral, Merseyside, England
Education	BSc (Hons) Sport & Exercise Science – 2010
Alma mater	Leeds Metropolitan University
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	62 kg (9 st 11 lb)
Sport
Country	Great Britain  England
Sport	Field hockey
Medal record Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team Representing  England European Championship 2015 London European Championship 2013 Boom Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow Team

Samantha Ann "Sam" Quek (born 18 October 1988) is a British field hockey player.

She plays as a defender for both England and Great Britain's hockey teams, wearing squad number 13. She won gold as part of the British team at the 2016 Summer Olympics, who beat the Netherlands on a penalty shoot-out.

International career

She won her first international cap in 2008 while still studying at university.

She was not part of the squad for the London 2012 Olympic Games, but soon became more prominent in the squad and competed for England at the 2013 EuroHockey tournament as well as the 2014 Commonwealth Games, winning silver medals at both events.

In the absence of Kate Richardson-Walsh, Quek captained England team during the 2014 Champions Trophy in Mendoza, Argentina. She competed in every game of the tournament despite, unknown to Quek, breaking two of the ribs on her right side in the opening game.

Quek was also part of the England Hockey team who won a Gold Medal at the European Championships in August 2015 in London. She notably won Man of the Match in the final vs the Netherlands, who were reigning World and Olympic Champions at the time.^[1]

In August 2016 she competed in the Rio Olympic Games, winning her 50th cap for Great Britain in the process, with more than 125 combined for both England and GB. The team won the gold medal after beating the Netherlands in the final on penalties, this being the first women's hockey gold medal in the Olympics for Great Britain.^[2]

WADA hack and disclosure of medical records

In September 2016, a group of Russian hackers calling themselves "Fancy Bears" hacked into WADA's database and revealed that Quek, along with many of her fellow Team GB members, had been granted a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for various prescriptions. Quek's TUE specifically related to the use of an inhaler in 2008, when she was a teenager. Quek responded to the leak, stating that not only had she operated within all sporting guidelines, but that she was primarily concerned that the nature of these hacks could, to the detriment of future athletes, stigmatise the future use of TUEs, which she described as "potentially life saving practices". The hacks have since been widely discredited by numerous industry professionals and worldwide media outlets.^[3]

Education

Quek attended Birkenhead High School and sixth form at Calday Grange Grammar School on the Wirral before attending Leeds Metropolitan University (formerly Leeds Polytechnic and now Leeds Beckett University) earning a BSc (Hons) Sport & Exercise Science.^[4][5]

Media appearances

In May 2016, Quek appeared with her boyfriend on BBC One's daytime antiques-based game show For What It's Worth.^[6]

In November 2016, Quek began participating as a contestant in the sixteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and made it to the final four before being voted out on day 22; she finished in fourth place.^[7]

Personal life

Quek is a fan of Liverpool F.C. and counts former Liverpool striker Ian Rush as one of her sporting heroes.^[8] She is also a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs in the National Football League.^[9] Quek is of half Singaporean descent.^[10]

References

1. "Glasgow 2014 - Sam Quek Profile". Results.glasgow2014.com. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
2. John, Emma (19 August 2016). "GB women win historic hockey gold with shootout victory over Netherlands". The Guardian.
3. Riach, James (21 September 2016). "The Fancy Bears leaks shouldn't tar all athletes with the same doping brush". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
4. "JOURNAL OF THE OLD CALDEIAN UNION" (PDF). Caldaygrangegrammarschool.co.uk\accessdate=2016-08-29. 2013.
5. "Leeds Beckett University on the road to Rio...our students and alumni at the Olympics". Leeds Beckett University. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
6. "BBC One - For What It's Worth, Series 2, Episode 6". BBC One. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
7. "Sam Quek becomes ninth person voted off I'm A Celebrity". ITV News. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
8. Prentice, David (28 June 2016). "Mersey hockey duo heading for Rio Olympic Games". Liverpool Echo. Trinity Mirror Merseyside. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
9. Sweeney, Pete (20 September 2016). "British Olympic Gold Medalist Sam Quek Loves Chiefs, De'Anthony Thomas". chiefs.com. Kansas City Chiefs. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
10. Alan Smith (29 August 2016). "Sam Quek: 'You could see from making eye contact we were going to win gold'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-08-29.