Samantha Ann Quek, MBE (born 18 October 1988) is a former British field hockey player, who was born in West Derby, Liverpool.^[1] She played as a defender for both England and Great Britain, wearing squad number 13. She won gold as part of the British team at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Quek is a weekly Sports columnist for the Daily Mirror newspaper ^[2] and presents various sports programmes on TV including American Football on the BBC,^[3] Rugby Union on Channel 5,^[4] field hockey on BT Sport ^[5] and football for Channel 4 ^[6] and LFC TV .^[7]

Quek won her first international cap in 2008 while still studying at university.^[8]

She was not part of the squad for the London 2012 Olympic Games,^[9] 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, and following a vote by her teammates, Quek was made captain of the England team during the 2014 Champions Trophy in Mendoza, Argentina. She played in every game of the tournament despite, unknown to Quek at the time, breaking two of the ribs on her right side in the opening game.

Quek was also part of the England hockey team who won gold at the European Championships in August 2015 in London. She notably won Man of the Match in the final against the Netherlands, who were reigning world and Olympic champions at the time.^[10]

In August 2016, she competed in the Rio Olympic Games, winning her 50th cap for Great Britain in the process, taking her to 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.^[11]

She was awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours List 2017 for services to hockey.^[12]

Quek was signed to Tranmere Rovers F.C. as a junior. She revealed in an interview with the Guardian, that at 16 she had to make the choice between pursuing a professional hockey or a professional football career; as splitting her time between the two sports was hindering her progress in both. Quek elected to pursue a career in hockey.^[13]

On 23 March 2018, Quek was selected to play in an All Stars team versus FA People's Cup challengers in a 12 hour fundraising match for Sports Relief.^[14] Various sporting professionals including former professional footballer, Robbie Savage, former player and manager, Peter Reid, as well as Ex-England Cricket captain Michael Vaughan commented about how impressed they were at her footballing ability and how she could make a career in the women's professional game.^[15]

On 27 June 2019, ahead of the 2019/2020 season, Quek was offered a trial with FA Women's Super League team, Liverpool Ladies, by their manager Vicky Jepson.^[16]

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.^[17]

Quek attended Birkenhead High School and sixth form at Calday Grange Grammar School on the Wirral before attending Leeds Metropolitan University, earning a BSc (Hons) Sport & Exercise Science.^[18][19]

In May 2016, Quek appeared with her partner, Tom Mairs, on BBC One's daytime antiques-based game show For What It's Worth. Together they won the show's jackpot of £2,500.^[20]

In November 2016, Quek took part in the sixteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! She made it to the final four before being voted out on day 22 of 23; and finishing in fourth place.^[21][22]

In March 2017, Quek appeared as a guest panellist in the ITV sports panel game show, Play to the Whistle. She also took part in a celebrity edition of The Chase.^[23]

Quek appeared, alongside Greg Rusedski in Pointless Celebrities, Series 11.^[24]

Quek has been a presenter on shows including The NFL Show, The Premier League Show, and Granada Reports^[25]

In 2017 Quek became a sports columnist for the Metro newspaper^[26] and, in 2018, wrote a piece for the BBC about the challenges that women face in the media's portrayal of female athletes on and off the field.^[27]

In August 2019 Quek was signed as a Sports columnist for the Daily Mirror newspaper.^[2]

On 19 August 2019 she began hosting the BBC's flagship football phone-in programme, BBC 606, alongside regular pundit Robbie Savage.^[28]

Quek is a supporter of Liverpool F.C. and counts former Liverpool striker Ian Rush as one of her sporting heroes.^[29] She is also a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs in the National Football League.^[30] Quek is of half Singaporean descent.^[9]

Quek is married to Tom Mairs.^[31]