'Curl Runnings': Wolverhampton man aims to join Jamaica Winter Olympics team

Residential care worker and father-of-three, Luke Samuels, from Edinburgh, Scotland but originally from Wolverhampton, took up the sport after watching the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Mr Samuels has dual nationality with Jamaica through his grandfather, Edwin Luther Samuels, who moved to Oxley, Wolverhampton, came with the first wave Empire Windrush arrivals on June 21, 1948.

Luke, said: "I've only been curling for about a year, I remember watching the Beijing Olympics with my wife and I said I'm going to curl for Jamaica one day.

"She laughed, but the next day I got in touch with a group called Curling Jamaica, and jumped on a beginners course in Edinburgh."

Luke joined the 37 Club, a Scottish curling group, before being tutored by a coach who was also in the club.

The curler said: "They are great there. One of the guys is a curling coach, and he started to coach me and help me get better.

"I had another coach who tutored some of the professional Scottish players. It was honestly a bit like the film Cool Runnings, 'curl runnings' I think!"

The curler contacted the Jamaican curling team president, Ben Kong, who invited Luke to be part of the Jamaican Curling Team.

Luke said: "We are planning to qualify for the Italy Winter Olympics in 2026, which gives me three years to practice and get better.

"Hopefully we will get picked but some of these curlers have been doing this for around 20 years. I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing and hope I get chosen ."

Luke credits his grandfather as his strength to pursue professional curling, hoping to make him proud by representing Jamaica in the Olympics.

Mr Samuels said: "My grandfather came over to England on June 21, 1948, as part of the Windrush to help rebuild Britain.

"He was originally from Watt Town in St Ann, Jamaica, he settled in Wolverhampton and married my grandmother Sylvia who is originally from Wolverhampton."

Luke also credits his three children, Luchia, 18, Malachi, 12, and Ezekiel, 11, his wife Morgan, and his family history as a driving force behind his curling passion.

He said: "One of my kids came up to me and said when they grow up they wanted to be on the same team as me, it's an amazing thing to hear that.

"All of my family is centred around helping people, It's in our nature, my grandfather was a bus conductor and loved helping people, and a lot of my family are in care. This is my way of helping."

The curler hopes that more people will follow in his footsteps to discover their family history, going on to talk about its importance.

Luke said: "I would honestly encourage anyone to find out their family history. It's important to have that, I love that I can identify as both British and Jamaican.

"In a way it gives me a lot of strength, knowing what my ancestors went through and how strong they were, it's part of what makes me who I am."

If Luke gets chosen to compete for Jamaica, he will become one of the first European curlers to compete in the Winter Olympics for the Jamaican team.

He said: "I would be one of the first in Europe, no European curlers are competing on the Jamaican side, so I would be the first.

"But I wouldn't be able to do this if it wasn't for my grandad coming from Jamaica to Wolverhampton, it will always be special to me."