Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Zambia Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
World champion in 1991 and Olympic silver medallist in 1996, with an African record that stood for decades — Zambia's most successful athlete on the track by a distance.
Samuel Matete came out of Chingola and went to Auburn University in the United States, where he won the collegiate title.
In 1991 he won the world championship over 400 metres hurdles in Tokyo, and that season ran 47.10 seconds in Zurich — an African record that stood for more than two decades and remains among the fastest times ever run in the event. For much of the early 1990s he and the American Kevin Young were the two best hurdlers in the world; Young got the Olympic title in Barcelona and the world record, and Matete had the longer run of consistency, winning the Grand Prix final four times.
He took the silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 behind Derrick Adkins, which remains one of only a handful of Olympic medals Zambia has ever won.
In 1991 he won the world championship over 400 metres hurdles in Tokyo, and that season ran 47.10 seconds in Zurich — an African record that stood for more than two decades and remains among the fastest times ever run in the event. For much of the early 1990s he and the American Kevin Young were the two best hurdlers in the world; Young got the Olympic title in Barcelona and the world record, and Matete had the longer run of consistency, winning the Grand Prix final four times.
He took the silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 behind Derrick Adkins, which remains one of only a handful of Olympic medals Zambia has ever won.
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