Sam Quek: ‘You could see from making eye contact we were going to win gold’

Last year Sam Quek was ready to put her stick to one side and call it a day. The Great Britain hockey defender, one of the undisputed stars of their unstoppable charge to gold in Rio, was struggling to recover from a rib injury. She was bereft of belief in her ability and following the heartbreak of non-selection for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, losing faith that her opportunity would ever arrive.

The 27-year-old, enthusiastic and still riding the wave of excitement from that magnificent fortnight in Rio, is finding it difficult to stop smiling these past few days. But when it comes to discussing the bumpy ride from the Wirral to Olympic champion, her steely undercurrent and determination, fostered by an unfamiliar path in a sport concentrated in the south of England, becomes apparent.

Quek lives by the Robert H Schuller quote “tough times never last, but tough people do” and is honest when discussing the turnaround that led her from failing to make it into the reserves little more than 12 months ago to becoming the defensive bedrock of a team that won seven of their eight games in Brazil, defeating the Netherlands on penalties after drawing the final 3-3.

Her success is a result of perseverance and hard work but this is also a tale of never giving up.

“In June 2015 I seriously considered hanging up my stick and walking away,” Quek says. “I missed out on Beijing and London and watched all the games from the stands [as a fan]. I remember post-2012 saying I never wanted to experience that feeling again. Words can’t describe how painful it was to sit there.

“Everything went well after that. We got a silver in the Europeans the following year and in 2014 I had the honour of captaining the squad [in the Champions Trophy]. For me that was the proudest moment in a GB shirt. Plenty can say they have played but not many can say they have captained the team. In game one of that tournament I broke two of my ribs but didn’t realise until I got home. So I didn’t play my best hockey, I did a job but it wasn’t my best.”

Things would soon get worse. Her confidence plummeted and returning to full fitness proved difficult. Approaching breaking point, some tough love from her family and partner changed everything.

“I came back in the following February but I was not as strong or as fit. I was playing for a good two months before the selection for the Rio qualifying tournament and I didn’t even make it into the friendly matches before. I was available but didn’t make it. I wasn’t even in the reserves, let alone the squad.

“Going from captain, the pinnacle of your sport, to not even being seventh-choice defender brought all of the feelings of 2012 back again. It hit me hard and there were times when I was on the phone to Tom [Mairs, her partner] for hours in the night, contemplating my future and doubting if I was able to do it. I wasn’t the player I was before and I was ready to give up. But he was like: ‘Don’t be silly, Sam, you don’t become a bad player overnight.’”

One moment stands out. On a June evening, after training at Bisham Abbey and a Skype conversation with Mairs, Quek decided to drive back north. “Tom sat me in the kitchen, it must have been midnight, and he had some firm words. He told me I was being ridiculous, it was all down to me and all the issues we talked about were in my control to sort out. That conversation was the turning point.”

It kick-started a remarkable transformation from peripheral figure to vital cog. She recalls going on holiday to Croatia after being dropped for the qualification tournament and ensuring the hotel had a gym. A fitness plan was strictly adhered to “while Tom spent his days drinking beer on the beach”.

Quek seems reluctant to take credit for her work ethic, regularly referring to her support system of family and friends, and there is a sense that she is oblivious to the talent at her disposal. Things could also have been quite different if she had stuck with playing football for Tranmere Rovers.

“I played lacrosse, netball and football but it came to a point where at about 16 I was at the same level with football and hockey and had to choose a path. I ended up playing a bit more hockey than football and I was never in the first team at Tranmere, always in the reserves, which was fair enough because there were two trainings a week but I would only go to one. I ended up playing a little more hockey and fell in love with it.”

At times, though, the love seemed unrequited. “I’m not going to sit here and say every day has been great because it hasn’t. Looking back at my journey, it’s maybe the most turbulent and roughest in terms of the team but if that hadn’t happen I don’t think I would be the character I am today. I’m quite proud now. There are times that I was embarrassed I didn’t make selection but I can sit here now and say that it taught me a valuable lesson, that I’m in control of everything I do. I learned that quite late but once I had that self-belief I cracked on.”

Cracking on is an understatement. Quek describes the training in Croatia and the regime after she returned to the national hockey complex at Bisham Abbey – where 31 centrally contracted players work on a three-weeks-on, one-week-off recovery system – as the best she has had. Her form returned and a place in England’s European Championship squad that summer was secured.

She was player of the match in their dramatic 2015 EuroHockey final against the Netherlands in London and as fate would have it, they won on penalties after coming from 2-0 down to draw.

When it came to Rio and taking on the Dutch, who were going for a third Olympic gold in a row and the overwhelming favourites, there was an assuredness among the players. The game looked up at one point but Britain’s defensive resilience, led by an indomitable Quek performance, paid off when Nicola White made it 3-3 in the final period. Maddie Hinch, the goalkeeper, proved heroic in the shootout and gold was theirs.

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“Everyone said you shouldn’t be really beating them but we came back to 2-2 and beat them on shuttles last year,” Quek continues. “I think once they knew we were going to shuttles, psychologically we had a bit of an advantage.

“We were very calm and there was an aura of confidence in the team. You could see from making eye contact that we’ve got this. We see from the amount of time and practice we put in doing the shuttles and the homework and scouting from previous shuttles, we were probably in the best possible place to win gold.”

Quek describes the reaction when Hollie Webb struck the winner as “a blur” as well as “pure joy and almost disbelief as well”, though she was in for another shock upon returning to the dressing room.

Her grandmother, Dolly, had suffered a stroke during the Games but her family decided to wait until after the final to break the news. A text message arrived and she instantly phoned home, bursting into tears after hearing the story. Dolly, who is making a full recovery, has become a minor celebrity in her own right. The video doing the rounds on Facebook of her being greeted by Quek in hospital surpassed three million views in five days. “She’s probably more of a star than me at the moment,” Quek says, that unassuming nature coming across once more. “She’s 95, a strong woman and I’m so proud I could call her my nan.

“The most special thing was giving her a hug, regardless of the medal. It was just making sure she was OK but she’s been so proud in the hospital, telling everyone: ‘My granddaughter won an Olympic gold medal.’”

While on a personal level her family influence was key, it is hard not to ignore that for Team GB the path to gold was made easier by such forensic planning. None of the teething problems in the Olympic Village experienced by Australia, for example, would get in the way of Britain’s medal rush. Great Britain sent an team to Brazil in advance to ensure the facilities were up to scratch and a local plumber was hired to work on their accommodation so as not to rely on the village’s in-house contractors.

And then there is the Lottery funding. While the price of each medal won by Team GB is understood to have been more than £4m, Quek is right to point out that the players earn just enough to survive. There is also the pressure of performing – failure in Rio would have seen the sport’s funding cut, which would not just impact the elite but trickle down to the grassroots.

“It was really important for us to reach the podium and make sure we had the same funding or maybe got a little bit more. First and foremost, that was the most important box to tick off. They basically fund each athlete to be able to train full time. It’s not enough to go out and buy fancy cars and go on nice holidays.”

The aim now is to ensure hockey remains in the spotlight, but Quek’s intentions are triple-pronged, with promoting the game in the north and encouraging Asian women to be more proactive equally on her mind.

“I want to make sure the sport is accessible for everyone because naturally some fall under certain titles and there are barriers,” she adds. “It’s a case of getting it out there that hockey is for anyone of any age.

“A lot of people are under the impression it’s a southern based sport but that’s a bit of a misconception. It may be a tad more accessible but GB Hockey has been awesome over the past couple of years in promoting it for everybody. I’m obviously half Asian – my dad’s from Singapore, my mum is English – so I would like to inspire people who think they might not be suited to hockey. I want to take that back up north and for people in different backgrounds, whatever their religion, colour or gender make sure they know hockey is for them.”

Quek is candid, too, when it comes to capitalising on this success. Numerous endorsement offers have been made but she will be picky. The ideal path post-hockey would be to “become like Gabby Logan or Clare Balding” on the small screen, but before that there is some more business to take care of. “I’m trying to enjoy it and ride the wave. This has never been done before and we need to remember that. We’ve created history and now it’s about inspiring the future generation.”