Samuel Matete

Samuel Matete (born July 27, 1968 in Chingola ) is a former Zambian athlete and Olympic medalist. With a height of 1.83 m, his competition weight was 81 kg.

He studied at Auburn University in Alabama in the late 1980s and trained with athletes from the United States.

Olympic games

Samuel Matete took part in the 400-meter hurdles at the Olympic Games from 1988 to 2000 . In 1988 he failed as a stranger in the preliminary run, in 1992 he was disqualified as a co-favorite in the semifinals for leaving the track and in 2000 he did not make it through the semifinals. But in 1996 he reached the final and won silver with 47.78 s behind the American Derrick Adkins in 47.54 s.

This silver medal was the second medal for Zambia at the Olympics after the bronze medal of boxer Keith Mwila in 1984 . In contrast to Mwila, who had benefited from the Olympic boycott of the Eastern Bloc and, above all, of Cuba, Matete belonged to the top of the world for years and is therefore probably Zambia's most important athlete.

World championships

The first two world championship titles in the 400 meter hurdles were won by the American Edwin Moses in 1983 and 1987 . In 1991 the Americans Kevin Young , Danny Harris and Derrick Adkins came in fourth to sixth. They were beaten by Matete in 47.64 s, Winthrop Graham from Jamaica in 47.74 s and the British Kriss Akabusi in 47.86 s. This victory was the only one so far by an athlete from Zambia at World Athletics Championships.

But it was not the last medal at the World Athletics Championships for Zambia, because in 1993 in Stuttgart , Matete won silver in 47.60 s behind Kevin Young (47.18 s), and in 1995 he again won silver in 48.03 s behind Adkins in 47.98 s. In 1997 he was fifth again in 48.11 seconds.

Commonwealth Games

In 1990, Matete finished fifth in 50.34 seconds. In 1994 in Victoria (British Columbia) he won in 48.67 s before the Kenyans Gideon Biwott and Barnabas Kinyor. Also at the Commonwealth Games, Matete won Zambia's first gold medal in athletics.

Best performance

His best performance of 47.10 s ran in 1991 in Letzigrund at Weltklasse Zürich . That was the second fastest time ever, only Edwin Moses had run faster before him. And since then, only the world record holders Kevin Young and Bryan Bronson have run faster. So Matete's time is not "just" an African record, it is the best time for a non-American and fourth place on the all-time world best list (as of March 2009).

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF biography of Samuel Matete ( Memento from August 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).
2. ↑ Continental records of the IAAF in the men's 400m hurdles
3. ↑ Official record statistics of the IAAF for the men's 400m hurdles