For many sports athletes, making the right decisions at the right moments holds the key to a successful sporting career. East London’s scholar sprinter, Kore Samuel, is one to lead by example when it comes to making the right decisions in life.
Samuel was born in Lagos, Nigeria, but moved to Lewisham when he was 2-years-old. Having settled in a new country, Samuel’s mother would then move her family away from Lewisham due to fear of violence in the South London borough.
Samuel and his family eventually settled in South East Kent where Samuel would grow up in Dover. The 21-year-old said: “Lewisham had a name back in the day so I then moved to South East Kent and was brought up in Dover.
“Lewisham is just a rough area where there’s a lot of crime and violence. I was so grateful that my mum wanted to get me out of that so from a young age we left and moved to Dover.”
Growing Up
Growing up, athletics was never in Samuel’s interest, despite the sport being in his blood. His mother used to run the 800 and 1500 metres at a high level at school, but for the sprinter, football was his preferred sport and the one he wanted to forge a career out of.
However, when Samuel’s recurring knee injury brought a premature end to his football aspirations, athletics soon represented his future. Since changing sport, Samuel has gone injury-free; it has trained him to become dedicated to the sport and take the advice of coaches seriously – especially when it comes to warming up correctly to prevent any injuries.
Taking up track and field events proved to be one of the right decision Samuel would make in his life.
“Getting into athletics was an interesting build-up,” Samuel said. “Since I was in primary school I’d be winning all my Sports Day events in any races and I’d beat everyone.”
He would win all his Sports Day events in primary school by a huge margin which he would then replicate at secondary school. It wasn’t until he went to secondary school where he started to become noticed by sports teachers, showing great potential to be a strong sprinter in the future.
“Moving into secondary school, I then carried on with the same persona and attributes by beating people until a teacher spotted me and recommended me to focus on track events, but my heart was in football at the time.
“But further down the line football didn’t go to plan and after so many injuries and knee injuries, I just decided I wanted to do track and now I’m in love with the sport,” he said.
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
After school, Samuel would then go on to hold a record of his own by becoming the under-20 record holder in the 200m in Kent in 2018. It doesn’t stop here as Samuel’s goal for athletics is to be the best and to do this, he’s taking his progression in track events one stage at a time.
He began by equalling the women’s world record 100m sprint time, and now, Samuel is running the 100m in 10.3 seconds. He is also slowly progressing and running for Great Britain, and he won’t stop until he’s the best.
“My dream and goals for athletics is to be the best,” Samuel said. “If you’re not the best, then why are you really in the sport?”
