Samaai grew up in a poor neighbourhood of Paarl, living in a shack with his mother. He was driven to compete in athletics and would regularly walk nearly ten kilometres to the local running track to train.[3] He attended Paarl Gimnasium and went on to study transport management at the University of Johannesburg.[4]
He made his first impact on the national scene as a 19-year-old at the 2011 South African Championships. He placed third, behind Godfrey Khotso Mokoena and Luvo Manyonga, and set a personal best of 7.75 m (25 ft 5 in).[5] He improved in 2012 winning the national under-23 championships in a best of 7.94 m (26 ft 1⁄2 in) before repeating his third place at the senior championships. He was runner-up at the University Championships and also came fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 15.79 m (51 ft 9+1⁄2 in). He repeated as universities runner-up in 2013 and added two further centimetres to his best.[6]
Samaai began 2014 with an early world-leading performance of 8.10 m (26 ft 6+3⁄4 in) – a new personal best and his first leap over eight metres. He cleared 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in) in March, placing second to Irving Saladino in the world rankings.[7] At the South African Championships, he came in second place behind Zarck Visser with a near-eight-metre jump.[8] Samaai began competing on the international track and field circuit that year. He had his first podium finish on the Diamond League circuit shortly after, placing third at the Adidas Grand Prix. After that, he was second at the Folksam Grand Prix in Sweden and won at the Meeting Sport Solidarieta in Italy.[6] Samaai was selected to represent South Africa at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and on his international debut, he cleared 8.08 m (26 ft 6 in) in the long jump final to earn the bronze medal.[1][9]
Personal life
Samaai married long-term girlfriend Alecha Thops on the 3rd of October 2021.
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