Samuel MATETE

Samuel Matete was one of a number of athletes who tried to establish themselves as the world's premier 400m hurdler following the retirement of the legendary Edwin Moses (USA), who had dominated the event for over a decade. Matete's Olympic contact with Moses was brief, as young Samuel would have just been leaving the track after being eliminated from Heat 2 in his first of four Olympic appearances at Seoul in 1988, just as Moses was warming up for Heat 3 in his third and last Olympic Games. Matete made rapid improvement in 1989, reducing the Zambian record five times in less than five weeks, culminating with a best of 48.67sec on 20 June.

On the basis of that time, he was probably somewhat disappointed when he was unable to run faster than 50.34 sec when finishing 5th at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland on 29 January. That was just a minor hiccup however, as he lowered his national 400m hurdles record on a further four occasions in 1990, ending with his first sub-48 second clocking of 47.91sec when winning the Grand Prix final at Athens on 7 September. Matete's best year by far was in 1991, when he was unbeaten in all 20 competitions that he contested.

He continued to lower his national record, firstly to 47.87sec at Monaco on 3 August, and then at Zurich four days later, he recorded his career best time of 47.10sec, missing Moses' world record by only 0.8sec and moving to second on the all-time world list. Matete became a firm favourite for the 400m hurdles title at the World Championships in Tokyo on 27 August, where he withstood a determined challenge from Winthrop Graham (Jamaica) to eventually win (see photo above, No. 1201) the gold medal in a time of 47.64sec. (Ron Casey)

Samuel Matete had been the dominant force in the 400m hurdles during 1991, finishing the season unbeaten, and winning the world title only a few weeks after he had just missed breaking the world record. However, Matete was unable to maintain this level of dominance in 1992, and was hampered by a sore right hamstring during the early part of the season. Matete had also been overshadowed by Kevin Young (USA), although he had maintained an unbeaten record over World Championships silver medallist Winthrop Graham (Jamaica) in the five times they met prior to the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Matete finished third in his semi-final at Barcelona, but was disqualified as he had knocked over the last hurdle in the lane outside his own.

In his absence, Young went on to win the gold medal from Graham in world record time. Young continued this superiority over his rivals into the following season, eventually building a winning streak of 25, before Matete narrowly defeated him at London on 23 July. Young's favouritism for the World Championships at Stuttgart took another jolt in his final two races before the biggest meet of the year. In the first, at Zurich on 4 August, Graham won from Matete and Young, while three days later at Monaco, Matete defeated Young again, with Graham third. This clearly made the three athletes the favourites to share the medals at Stuttgart, where Matete easily won his first round heat (see photo above by G.H. ©) on 16 August.

The expectation for an exciting final increased when Graham, Matete and Young were the respective winners of the three semi-finals the following day. In the final, Young produced the fastest time of the year to defeat Matete, who just narrowly won the silver from Graham in his season's fastest time of 47.60sec. (Ron Casey)

During 1992 and 1993, Samuel Matete waged an intriguing battle with Kevin Young (USA) and Winthrop Graham (Jamaica) for supremacy in the 400m hurdles. This opposition largely disappeared in 1994, as Young was injured and Graham was below his form of previous years. However, in their place, Derrick Adkins (USA) emerged to contest the number one position with Matete. The two dominated the event during 1994, recording between them the fastest 15 times of the season. In their head-to-head battles, Matete scored a narrow 6 to 5 victory after winning their last three encounters. Overall, Matete won 19 competitions during the season, including a victory at the TSB Games in London on 15 July (see photo above 15th. July 1994 by George Herringshaw. ©).

Matete had threatened to boycott the Commonwealth Games in Victoria due to a financial dispute with his national association, but in the end he competed, winning the final on 26 August in a canter to earn Zambia's first ever Commonwealth gold medal. The other major meet of the year was the World Cup in London (Crystal Palace), where, in the absence of Adkins and any major opposition, Matete easily won the 400m hurdles final on 9 September in 48.77sec. Matete resumed his rivalry with Adkins in 1995, although the American clearly had the advantage in the early part of the season prior to the World Championships held in Gothenburg. It was expected that the fight for the gold medal at Gothenburg would be between Matete and Adkins, and this assumption gained support when they each won their respective semi-finals.

The final on August 10 was a thrilling affair, with Matete, Adkins, and Stephane Diagana (France) racing almost abreast down most of the finishing straight, before Adkins managed to just prevail over Matete for the gold, with Diagana close behind in third place. (Ron Casey)

A feature of the 1994 and 1995 seasons was the battle between Samuel Matete and Derrick Adkins for supremacy in the 400m hurdles. The two continued their intense rivalry into 1996, where Matete won four of their five encounters prior to the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Matete had no problems in his heat at Atlanta on 29 July (see photo above © G.H. ), but in the final on 1 August, he found Adkins too strong for him on the day, finishing second in a time of 47.78sec. Following the Olympics, Matete and Adkins continued their rivalry in Europe, competing against each other on six different occasions with honours even at three wins apiece. In the three years from 1994 to 1996, Matete encountered Adkins on 35 occasions, with the honours narrowly in Adkins favour 18 to 17. Matete continued to be competitive in the 1997 season, although it seemed his best years were behind him. On 4 August, he competed in his fourth World Championships final at Athens, finishing 5th in 48.1sec.

He recorded his fastest times of the that year on the Grand Prix circuit later that month, clocking 47.84sec at Monaco on 16 August, and 47.99sec at Cologne eight days later. In 1998, Matete won the 400m hurdles at the African Championships in August, and also at the World Cup in Johannesburg on 11 September in his yearís best time of 48.08sec. In 1999, Samuel recorded his season's best time of 47.91sec at Osaka on 8 May, but later that year, at his fifth World Championships in Seville, he was eliminated in the semi-finals. Seemingly defying age, Matete competed in his fourth Olympics at Sydney in 2000, where he was also eliminated in the semi-finals. However, the following year, in which he turned 33, his best time was only 49.82sec, and he was an absentee from the World Championships in Edmonton. (Ron Casey)