"Our athletes should get smarter to conquer the world"

Sports Illustrated magazine announced the top earning sportsmen of 2010. There are not enough zero's on a calculator to show in Kenya shillings what some of these top athletes earn in dollars. And it's in the endorsements that the big bucks kick in. Even after being dropped by Gatorade, AT&T and Accenture for his philandering, Tiger Woods still made $70,000,000 in endorsing products from companies like Nike and Tag Heuer. Sportsmen like Woods are a marketers dream as they have the holy trinity of good looks and style, good communication skills and of course are proven winners.

Donald Kipkorir in an article he wrote in the Nation called "Our athletes should get smarter to conquer the world" said "Bolt, Woods, Williams, Beckham and Paquiao receive multi million dollar endorsements for few reasons - their eloquence, fashion style, poise, charisma and presence. Kipkorir says our athletes main language of communication is mother tongue or a smattering of Kiswahili or deep sheng - to most of them English might as well be Mandarin. After winning races they are hardly interviewed by international media and in the few instances when asked their strategy for winning they say something like this: "I run, I run, I run, I prayed and I win". He goes on to say with the money some of our top athletes earn spending a little part of it to be polished and presentable is worth every cent. When our athletes wear mitumba or suits made in River Road, their global reach will be beyond them. Unless they improve their style and image, social and communication skills and media relations, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike and Puma will not call on them. The few millions in Kenya shillings they earn in a year will never be millions of dollars.'