Sam, a farm boy with Down syndrome, just wanted to meet people like him. Now he is an athletics record holder

Sam Le Feuvre loves to run, and growing up on a rural cattle property in North Queensland, he’s had plenty of space to practise.

Despite having three older siblings, Sam’s mum Theresa worried about how he would engage with the outside world, a challenge for most teenagers with Down syndrome.

“Less than 12 months ago, I was driving along, and I just thought to myself, I really need to find Sam some peers … he’s getting older, and everyone needs to be in contact or connected to somebody who has things in common,” Theresa Le Feuvre said.

It can be an isolating life growing up in the bush, but Ms Le Feuvre found a solution for Sam — linking his passion for running with competitive athletics.

It’s a move that has taken the 17-year-old from his family’s cattle property west of Townsville to the international stage.

“I definitely did not think that when he was born I would be taken along to France with him,” Ms Le Feuvre said.

“I was terrified because I’ve never really travelled much before, but even the build-up to going, the whole community got behind Sam.”

Competing overseas

In just 12 months, Sam went from schoolboy to an Australian record holder and then a competitor at an international competition, taking part in the Virtus Global Games in France five months ago.

The games, held every four years, offer athletes with an intellectual impairment the opportunity to compete at an elite level, and in some events even qualify for the Paralympic Games.

Robyn Smith is the CEO of Sports Inclusion Australia, an organisation that works on behalf of athletes with intellectual impairment by developing inclusive pathways.

“We want people to be able to access sport and physical activity in their local areas,” Ms Smith said.

“Often the sporting clubs and community are better off by being more holistic and inclusive of everybody.

“We really want people to be valued person first, and not put in a box.

“Sport Inclusion Australia wants to deliver a world where we don’t have to label people.”

In France, Sam competed in the 100-metre and 200m sprints, shot-put and long jump, and managed to walk away proudly with a bronze medal.

“It’s a real achievement for a little farm boy from Charters Towers to medal over there in France,” Ms Le Feuvre said.

No missed opportunities

Whilst overseas, Sam’s coach Leslye Muller watched from home, 15,000 kilometres away.

“I watched everything on live stream, which I was getting up at four o’clock in the morning to do it or staying up late at night because of the time changes,” she said.

“I was very pleased for Sam.”

For 34 years, Ms Muller has been a coach working in rural and regional Queensland with extraordinary success rates. Many of her athletes have represented Australia in competitions overseas.

But in her decades of coaching, Ms Muller has never coached an athlete like Sam before.

“I see it as a challenge and a rewarding challenge at that,” she said.

“I don’t treat him any differently. I’m aware of his differences, and at times it can be a little frustrating when I don’t understand him, but he’s a pretty clever little boy. He will write in the sand to tell me what he is trying to say” she said.

Ms Muller said Sam’s upbringing had given him opportunities his city counterparts missed out on.

“The kids that come from the farm like Sam, who run around barefoot, and some of my other athletes, you don’t have to condition them as much,” she said.

“But the city kids, yeah, you do.”

It’s a unique lifestyle that has led to Sam’s passion for animals … his beloved dog Danny is always by his side.

Before meeting Ms Muller and undertaking a more formal training program, Sam used Danny to train on the property.

“When we ran the dogs, Sam would hop over the [cattle] grid and run home with the dogs” Ms Le Feuvre said.

The next steps

Athletics aside, Sam’s family want him to become independent and financially secure as he enters his final year of schooling in 2024.

“Sam’s always been interested in the farm so I am sure he will help out on the farm a lot, but then we are also thinking about a business he can start up with himself, maybe something to do with dogs, dog resort, looking after pets while people are away on holidays — some other farming enterprise where he can go to the market and sell things” Ms Le Feuvre said.

“I’m really proud of Sam … I think there is something about people with Down syndrome that you can’t quite sort of put your finger on … they just take advantage of what’s happening now in front of them, the present,” Ms Le Feuvre said.

He knows what he wants. He has his eyes on the prize.

“Break the world record,” Sam said.

Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV