Matthew COLQUHOUN: “SAMBO for me is the will to strive”

Jamaican athlete Matthew Colquhoun won the Pan American SAMBO Championships in Brazil. He had no equal in the men's Combat SAMBO competition in the 88 kg weight category. In an interview for the FIAS website, the champion spoke about his long break in SAMBO tournaments, his speed advantage over the rivals, and the potential for a gold medal to become a catalyst for the development of SAMBO in Jamaica.

Congratulations with the gold medal. How do you feel about it?

– I feel pretty good. I took a long layoff because of family issues so I missed a couple of Pan American championships and a few international SAMBO tournaments. But it feels really good because now I felt it was time to come back and I won. I put the work in and the results show. So I'm pretty happy with what I did this time.

All day long you were very fast in the fights on the mat. Was it your tactics or you're fast now every time? How does it happen?

– Yeah, it's normally, I do a lot of movements in my training and I was watching the previous Pan Am championships and I saw some of the opponents. I noticed that I have a speed advantage. So I was just going to use this and see if it will be good for me in the tournament. And it turned out to be pretty good…

Which fight do you think was the hardest for you?

– Definitely the final one. It was a lot of pressure, especially because I was the only Jamaican and we are the only Caribbean country that medaled in the Pan American Championships that day. So a lot of my teammates and other Caribbean countries were saying: “Hey, Matt, we need you to get a medal for the Caribbean countries.” So I had a lot of pressure on me. But I went out there and did my thing.

How does it feel to be the only one guy from your country without coach, without everything? Did you miss something?

– This is not new to me, traveling by myself with less coaching staff and things like this. We've done it a few times. Although I would love for more Jamaican youths to get involved in SAMBO. It's a great sport. And this medal will help it to grow in Jamaica so we can have more grassroots people to come in. It will be a motivation for them.

You prefer only Combat SAMBO. Don't you like Sport SAMBO?

– I prefer Combat SAMBO. I like punching and kicking. I'm pretty good at wrestling. I think next SAMBO tournament I'll do some Sport SAMBO as well.

And can you tell us about your plans for the future?

– My plan for the future is just to continue to develop myself as a person, continue to encourage, the federation in Jamaica to grow the sport of SAMBO because sambo has done a lot for me. Personally it's been my outlet for whenever I have a bad day I go to the gym. I can use this and get some frustration out. I love the sport SAMBO and I would love for it to be grown more in Jamaica. So this medal is going to be a motivation to encourage the younger generations to compete in SAMBO.

How do you think when we will see more people from Jamaica practicing SAMBO and winning gold medals?

– Hopefully in the future. We're using this medal to push it forward, to get more youth involved, to get the government of Jamaica involved in the sport. So we can get more funding to have a training centre to be able to push SAMBO in Jamaica to have it growing.

What would you say to a man who wants to get to know what is SAMBO? In a few words, what is SAMBO for you?

– SAMBO is passion, dedication, and I would say the will to strive.