A former Lincluden Primary School pupil has his sights set on curling at the 2026 Winter Olympics...for Jamaica.
Luke Samuels only took up the sport last year but has already shown he has what it takes to represent the Rock in Milan in three years’ time.
The father of three, who was brought up in Dumfries, is the first ever Scottish-Jamaican curler to represent the Caribbean side and has dual citizenship thanks to his grandfather Edwin Luther Samuels.
Luke said: “I’ve got dual nationality. I have UK and Jamaican passports.
“My grandfather came through Windrush on the very first boat in 1948. He was on the first voyage from Kingston to the UK.
“That’s my Jamaican connection and how I could get my citizenship.”
The 38-year-old, who moved to Edinburgh when he turned 30, was inspired to take up the sport by the Bejing Games last year. Dumfries-born Vicky Drummond won gold with Kirkgunzeon’s Grant Hardie and Stranraer duo of Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan winning silver.
He said: “I really enjoy watching curling and one night we were watching and I said to my wife Morgan ‘I’m going to curl for Jamaica one day’ and she laughed and I thought I’d prove her wrong.”
Jamaica is just starting out in the sport having been accepted as the 67th member of the World Curling Federation in September last year with hopes of building an ice rink in the future.
Luke was encouraged to give the sport a go and has been practising with Curl Edinburgh at Murrayfield Ice Rink before competing with the 37 Club curling team.
From there he reached out again to Curling Jamaica who accepted the residential care officer onto the team.
He said: “Dumfries has a good connection with curling and I’m hoping I can add to that in my own way.
“I’ve never met the team before as they are based in Canada and hopefully I can meet them at some point. It’ll be like Cool Runnings all over again!”
“Since I was a kid I always wanted to represent Jamaica. I’ve always had that passion for the country. My dad and my grandfather had that influence on me. I never thought I’d represent them in sport but here we are.”
The 1993 comedy film Cool Runnings, which featured John Candy, was loosely based on the debut of the Jamaican national bobsleigh team at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
Meanwhile, Luke is hoping to inspire others to take up the sport and has started with his kids, Luchia, Malachi and Ezekiel.
He said: “I told my son about this and he asked if he could be in my team one day and now he wants to learn to curl.
“He kept asking me if this was really happening because he couldn’t believe it.
For updates on the team follow Curling Jamaica on Facebook.
