Sam Quek

Quek won her first international cap in 2008 while still studying at university.[10] She was not part of the squad for the London 2012 Olympic Games,[7] 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 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.[11]

In August 2016, Quek 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, winning the first women's hockey gold medal in the Olympics for Great Britain.[12]

In September 2016, a group of Russian hackers calling themselves "Fancy Bears" hacked into the WADA database and revealed that Quek, along with many of her fellow Team GB members, had been granted a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for various medical prescriptions. Her TUE specifically related to the use of an inhaler in 2008, when she was a teenager. She 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 stigmatise the future use of TUEs to the detriment of future athletes, describing TUEs as "potentially life-saving practices". The hacks have since been widely discredited by numerous industry professionals and worldwide media outlets.[13]

Quek was signed to Tranmere Rovers FC as a junior. She revealed in an interview with The Guardian that she had to make the choice at the age of 16 between pursuing a professional career in hockey or football, as splitting her time between the two sports was hindering her progress in both. She elected to pursue a career in hockey.[14]

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 Sport Relief.[15] Various sporting professionals including former professional footballer, Robbie Savage, former player and manager, Peter Reid, as well as former 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.[16]

On 27 June 2019, ahead of the 2019–20 season, Quek was offered a trial with the Liverpool Ladies FA Women's Super League team by their manager Vicky Jepson.[17]

In May 2016, Quek appeared with her husband Tom Mairs on BBC One's game show For What It's Worth, where they won the show's jackpot of £2,500.[18]

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 the penultimate day and finishing in fourth place.[19][20]

In March 2017, Quek appeared as a guest panellist on the ITV sports panel game show Play to the Whistle and BBC's A Question of Sport.[21] She also took part in a celebrity edition of The Chase.[22] She also appeared alongside Greg Rusedski in Series 11 of Pointless Celebrities.[23]

Quek has been a presenter on shows including The NFL Show, The Premier League Show, and Granada Reports[24] In 2017, she became a sports columnist for the Metro newspaper[25] and wrote a piece in 2018 for the BBC about the challenges that women face in the media's portrayal of female athletes on and off the field.[26]

In August 2019, Quek began writing as a sports columnist for the Daily Mirror newspaper.[1] That same month, she began hosting the BBC's flagship football phone-in programme, 606, with regular pundit Robbie Savage.[27]