Recharged sat down with Samkeliso “Sam Sam” Thubane, Red Bull’s first ever spinning athlete.
Referred to as the sultan of spin, Sam Sam has big ambitions to take spinning to the global stage, something that will now be possible with Red Bull behind him.
Hailing from Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit), the 26 year old youngster is an icon in the local spinning scene. He started at the age of 12, first on a quad bike, and then finally convinced his dad to buy him a BMW E30.
Sam Sam got his big break on So You Think You Can Spin? in 2016, where he came out on top from the show’s 300 contestants, which earned him the most public votes and a cash prize.
Sam Sam also participated in Johannesburg’s first ever Red Bull Showrun early in October alongside F1 legend David Coulthard, where Recharged was in attendance. You catch up here. And more recently he joined Coulthard again at Kyalami for an epic short film, which you can find here.
Recharged: What was the Red Bull Showrun like?
Samkeliso “Sam Sam” Thubane: It was a big event, and it was such a great experience for me. It was my first time being part of the Showrun, as myself, as a Red Bull athlete. I had a lot of mixed emotions, excitement and nerves at the same time, because I was performing in front of more than 20 000 people. But we made it through, because I knew what I was going to do; I had everything in order. I mean, I was able to perform as myself and have the crowd cheer!
Recharged: How did you feel when you were told you will be Red Bull’s first spinning athlete?
Sam Sam: I was so excited, and it felt so unreal, and at the same time, I always said that I am spinning and one day, I just want to take spinning to an international level. So the moment they said ‘you’d be signed as a Red Bull athlete…’ I had a lot of questions, like if I’m a Red Bull athelete now, does it mean I’m going to be attending events now, like outside, what’s going to be happening… I couldn’t wait for the day they said come in; the deal is here… I was so excited.
Recharged: What is the most challenging part about being in such a niche industry?
Sam Sam: You know, there’s always been a stigma that spinning is for gangsters. You get people that believe that kind of thing but then I’d like to say that spinning is not for gangsterism like people portray it to be. You’ve got different people doing different things. You’ve got spinners who have their own businesses, like in the transport industry, construction, and they are big in the game. I haven’t come across anyone who has been a gangster. I’d like to say people shouldn’t look at spinning that way. Spinning is just a motorsport that brings all types of races together.
Recharged: For those who are not South African, how would you describe spinning?
Sam Sam: Spinning is controlled chaos, which for me is coming in with a BMW E30, at a secured venue, and performing what you call donuts, figure eights and target lines, with the car. Spinning for someone who doesn’t know, is similar to what drifting is, even though it’s not the same. Drifting is done on a track at a high speed, but spinning is usually done on a track, but it’s more a track and not much of high-speed drifting. Someone who doesn’t know spinning, but knows drifting, would compare spinning to drifting.
Recharged: Given its history and government to recognising it as a sport, what does it mean to you?
Sam Sam: For Gayton McKenzie to recognise the sport is a big move for spinning. We’ve been spinning for many years, and what we’ve been doing was freestyle spinning, where we just come and entertain the crowd, there’s obviously no certain rules or regulations on how we should be spinning. But with Gayton McKenzie wanting to create competition spinning where there will be podiums at the end of the day, that becomes interesting because when you go in there, it’s not like you’re just going to be freestyling or doing donuts, now you’re given like obstacles to perform, and that’s where you prove your skill; showing what you can do. It becomes more interesting for us as spinners and more competitive; to just put in more effort in what they do.
Recharged: What support would you like now that the government is behind you?
Sam Sam: There are places that people can spin at, but they don’t host events so you find people spinning at places that aren’t secure where many people show up. We know spinning is the fastest growing motorsport in South Africa, so being the fastest, we’d like to have more venues where people can come and watch these events. There’s a lot of interest to watch but because some places are not as safe as they should be, people don’t want to come. Now that the government recognises spinning as an official sport, it is not only going to benefit the spinning community, but also everyone involved, like event planners, food vendors, ticket sellers, tire brands – a lot people will benefit if spinning takes that route.
Recharged: Do you see spinning going international?
Sam Sam: Yes, that has always been my goal, to take spinning international. Now that I’m signed as a Red Bull athlete, this is an opportunity for that. The first place I’d like to go is the United States. I’ve seen on social media that they have their own type of spinning, which is just different, I mean they say they’re spinning [laughs] but I’d like to one day go there and show them how it’s actually done. I’ve received some messages from the guys there in the US asking me to come but I couldn’t just do that, however being part of Red Bull means that opportunity will come.
Recharged: What is the TikTok algorithm serving you? What’s trending right now, on your feed?
Sam Sam: Since the Showrun, there’s all these videos coming up from it. Sam Sam this, Sam Sam that.
Recharged: So yourself… you’re trending right now?
Sam Sam: [laughts] yes. There’s just a lot on my feed from people who’ve captured the Showrun.
Recharged: Any final words for the youth?
Sam Sam: Spinning is for everyone, and I know that most, if not all, youngsters are looking up to me. People like those young guys, who someday want to be just like me, inspired by what I do, I want to say to them: Just believe in yourself. Anything is possible. I mean, I started spinning at the age of 12, and today I’m a Red Bull athlete. If you get involved in spinning, give it your all, it will take time, but one day you’ll become big.