5 famous athletes who became successful politicians

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Recently, professional athletes who have retired have increasingly become involved in politics. As a rule, they join the ranks of people's deputies and parliamentarians, and this is not surprising. The universal love and recognition of sporting achievements helps them to get the votes of voters. However, only a few are in the upper echelons of power.

Pal Schmitt

Pal Schmitt came to his high post as President of Hungary on a long thorny path. An excellent fencer, winner of the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, even during his sports career, he did not waste time. He studied four languages - English, French, German and Spanish. Then he received two higher educations, and after finishing his sports career in 1977 he went to work in the hotel and restaurant business.

In a new role for himself, Pal Schmitt served a little, and when he was offered to head the administration of the largest stadium in Hungary "Nepstadium", he agreed. Then he was Deputy Chairman of the Hungarian Directorate for Physical Education and Sports, a member of the International Olympic Committee, Ambassador to Spain and Switzerland. In 2010, at the age of 68, he announced his candidacy for the presidency from the Fidesz party. And here victory awaited him again. Pal Schmitt held this position for two years. After the scandal related to his doctoral dissertation, he resigned.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

The difficult post-war childhood in the Austrian countryside tempered the character of Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger. He had to go against the will of his father, who served in the police during wartime and predicted the same career for his son. Gustav Schwarzenegger brought up his children harshly, sometimes even brutally. For example, he forced every misspelled word to be rewritten 50 times. At the same time, he did not pay any attention to the complaints of neighbors who told him about the pranks of Arnold and his brother.

Arnie's mom dreamed of seeing him as a salesman. Since sports were almost mandatory for boys in astro-Hungarian families, his father gave Arnold to football. But Arnie saw a very different future for himself. The famous swimmer Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan captured the mind of a teenager. The boy imagined himself as beautiful and healthy, because he was quite sickly. He devoted himself to the development of the body with perseverance and purposefulness worthy of admiration.

At the age of 19, after the army, Schwarzenegger moved to Munich. There he worked as a bodybuilding instructor, then opened his own gym and started winning tournaments. At the age of 21 he emigrated to the United States. Having reached the top of the bodybuilding Olympus in 1980, "Iron Arnie" gave up sports and devoted himself entirely to cinema. Although he began acting in films ten years earlier, acting did not bring him success. In 1982, the movie "Conan the Barbarian" was released, then "The Terminator", which brought Arnold worldwide fame.

A successful investment of money made it possible for a childhood dream to come true - at the age of 30 he was already a millionaire. Schwarzenegger got into politics thanks to his wife, who was a relative of Kennedy. From 2003 to 2011, Arnold served as Governor of California.

George Weah

Today George Taulon Manne Oppong Ausman Weah is one of the most famous football players in Africa and a Senator of Liberia. And tell his parents, when he was born in 1966 in the slums of Monrovia, about this future of their son, they would surely laugh. After all, George had 15 brothers and sisters! Football was the only outlet for a child from such a poor family. In the game, he could forget about hunger. Moreover, the guys periodically arranged battles for money, and the boy quickly realized that this was a good way to make money.

At the age of 15, George Weah joined the team that played in the third legion of the Liberian Football League. This team was called "Young Survivors". Indeed, the guys who played in it were tempered by the harsh life in the African hinterland. Thanks to George, the team rose to the second legion, and then his journey from team to team began. At 21, Weah became the champion of Liberia.

He played for Chelsea, AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and several other renowned first-tier clubs. In 1995 he received the title of the best football player in Europe. After leaving his football career, he took up politics, and in 2005 ran for the first time for the presidency, albeit unsuccessfully. In October 2017, he entered the second round of the presidential elections. At the time of this writing, it remains to be seen whether George Weah will become President of Liberia, but he has every chance of adding this election to his list of victories.

Kakha Kaladze

Kakhaber Kaladze is a Georgian footballer, whose name is known to all fans of this sport, because he played not only for his native Georgia, but also for one of the strongest clubs in the world - Milan.

Unlike many other professional athletes who moved into politics, Kakha did not grow up in poverty. His father was a footballer in the famous Lokomotiv team, so there was no question of what kind of sport the child would play in this family. At the age of 11, the boy started playing for the team of the city of Samtredia, then moved to Tbilisi "Dynamo", and after that - to the Kiev team with the same name. As part of the latter, he managed to win over Arsenal and Real Madrid.

From 2001 to 2010, Kaladze played for Milan, then for two years for Genoa, after which he announced that his career in sports had come to an end. The most expensive and the best Georgian player at the moment, Kakha turned out to be an equally successful businessman, thanks to which his financial situation allowed him to change his occupation. Of all the most "adrenaline" activities, Kakhaber chose politics. The same year he announced that he was quitting football, he was appointed Georgia's energy minister, and at the end of October 2017, he won the election for the post of mayor of Tbilisi.

Vitaliy Klichko

Like Schwarzenegger, Vitaly and his younger brother Vladimir were the sons of a serviceman, an aviation colonel. Mom was a primary school teacher. Since childhood, being carried away by various types of martial arts, the future mayor of Kiev nevertheless opted for kickboxing. In this sport, he won four world championships. At 24, he went to boxing, to which he remained faithful until 2013. During his sports career, Vitaly achieved the title of "Eternal World Boxing Champion" according to the World Boxing Council.

Just like Pal Schmitt, Vitaly received two higher educations. Moreover, he defended his Ph. D. thesis in the field of physical culture. While living in Germany, Klitschko learned German and English. He came to politics under President Yushchenko, becoming his adviser on sports affairs in 2005 and staying in this position until 2008.. In 2014 he was elected to the post of head of the Kiev city administration.

The former boxer devotes a lot of time to charity issues. He founded his own foundation, thanks to which, over 15 years of work, 1,200,000 children have been helped. The Foundation purchases medical equipment and sponsors educational programs. As head of the administration, Vitaly is fighting against the misappropriation of land in Kiev.

As we can see, in order to reach the heights in politics, the "starting position" of the future mayor or president is completely unimportant. Rather, on the contrary - the harder it was in childhood, the more tempered his character and the higher the chance that in the political struggle he would defeat opponents, go to the cherished goal through all obstacles.