Samantha Murray

Samantha Murray

Samantha Murray with her silver medal at the London 2012 Olympic games after her victory in modern pentathlon
Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	(1989-09-25) 25 September 1989[1] Preston, Lancashire, England[1]
Residence	Bath, Somerset
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight	60 kg (132 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	United Kingdom
Sport	Modern Pentathlon
Coached by	Istvan Nemeth
Medal record Competitor for  Great Britain Modern Pentathlon Olympic Games 2012 London Women's World Championships 2012 Rome Team 2013 Kaoshiung Team 2014 Warsaw Individual 2010 Chengdu Team 2014 Warsaw Team 2012 Rome Individual European Championships 2013 Drzonkow Team relay 2013 Drzonkow Team World Cup 2015 Sarasota Individual 2012 Rostov Individual Junior World Championships 2010 Szekesfehervar Team Junior European Championships 2010 Golega Team

Samantha Murray (born 25 September 1989) is an English modern pentathlete. She won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the bronze medal at the 2012 World Championships. In 2014 she won individual gold and team silver medals at the 2014 World Championships.

Early life

Murray was born on born 25 September 1989 in Preston, Lancashire.^[1] Murray grew up in Clitheroe and attended Brookside Primary School, and then Bowland High School in Grindleton. Murray joined Clitheroe Dolphines Swimming club at the age of 7 and began competing in local galas. It was through the swimming club that she was asked to try a local Biathlon. Although she wasn't keen on swimming, she instantly took to running and decided to pursue running at higher level.

She started training for athletics at the age of 11, joining Hyndburn Athletics Club, and went on to win the Lancashire County Championships for Cross Country and 1500 metres in her first season as an Under 13 in 2001. She continued running for Lancashire and competed at English Schools and Inter-Counties throughout her teen years. She moved to Blackburn Harriers Athletes Club in 2006, after a period of difficulty with her running career. Her hero was British middle distance runner Kelly Holmes, and she was inspired by her success at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

From birth, Murray was around horses as her grandparents have a small farm in Longton, Lancashire. She spent weekends and school holidays with the horses and competed from an early age at Longton Riding Club. She rode for the club at Riding Club events. Murray joined Ribble Valley Modern Pentathlon Team and began pistol shooting. She then was taken to a fencing club in Bolton and enjoyed the sport. By doing this she was able to compete in her first Modern Pentathlon.^[1]

It was here where she saw a poster of Steph Cook winning the Gold Medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Murray was inspired by the poster and knew that she wanted an Olympic Medal. She had a childhood dream of competing at the Olympics. Murray went on to become National Youth Champion in Modern Pentathlon for consecutive years. She won a host of international competitions as a Junior including the Olympic Hopes Competition.

Murray had a period of time out sport whilst studying for her A-Levels.^[1] at CRGS sixth form.

Career

She competed at the Junior World Championships and Junior European Championships in 2010, where the British team won gold in both events.^[1] Individually, she finished 8th in the World competition and 15th overall in the European event.^[2][3] The team of Murray, Katy Burke, Freyja Prentice and Heather Fell also competed in the 2010 World Modern Pentathlon Championships, where they placed overall in second place, winning the silver medal. Murray placed in 22nd position in the individual competition in her first senior competition.^[4][5]

Murray finished in sixth place at the World Cup event in Charlotte, North Carolina, in March 2012.^[6] Following that she competed in the Budapest Cup where she was victorious.^[7] Her first World Cup medal came in Rostov, Russia, in April 2012, when she won the bronze medal behind Anastasiya Prokopenko and Victoria Tereshchuk. She had been leading going into the final day, but was overtaken during the run/shoot.^[8]

Along with Mhairi Spence, she was named to the British team at the 2012 Summer Olympics as the two female modern pentathlon competitors,^[9] and won the silver medal in the last event of the games.^[10]

Personal life

She is an undergraduate of the University of Bath where she studies Politics and French.^[11] Murray is the patron for the North West-based charity Cash For Kids.

References