4 Sports personalities who became successful Politicians
The notion that "Sports and Politics can't be separated" is a completely justified one. This commonality is based on the very fact that both politics and sports affect the emotions and perceptions of the common man.
In order to reach the pinnacle, one has to do a lot of hard work to constantly improve themselves through both introspections as well as retrospection. However, unlike other professions, a sportsman's career lasts for a lesser time frame owing to the deterioration of the physical attributes.
On the other hand, politics is a marathon that can be initiated at any point in life which provides excellent remunerations if one is able to harvest it properly. It has become a general trend for political parties across the globe to lure famous personalities (sportspersons included) to join their organizations in order to garner public recognition.
So this list includes the four Sports Personalities who have used their fan following to aggregate masses in order to reach the higher echelons of power yielding. Here are 4 stars who switched to politics after hanging up their boots:
#4 Manny Pacquiao
39-Year-old Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, famously known as 'Pac-Man' is a living legend in the field of boxing.
Pac-Man took up boxing at the early age of 14 to look after his family. He has also played basketball, representing Kia Picanto which was part of the Philippines Basketball Association. He is also an honorary member of Boston Celtics with jersey number 1. It was clear that basketball was his passion as he used the sport for cross-training to keep himself in shape.
Perhaps Manny was at the pinnacle of his fame in 2015, a year that witnessed the popular face-off between him and Floyd Mayweather. Apart from sports, Pacquiao also had a successful career in the Army as a colonel.
Pacquiao first entered into the political arena in the year 2007 after he declared himself to be in the running for a seat in the Philippine House of representatives. After losing in the 2007 elections, the legendary boxer came back stronger having won both the 2010 and 2013 elections.
Currently, Pacquiao is the 'Senator of Philippines' from 'Lone Legislative District of Sarangani'. He is affiliated with 'PDP-Laban' and incumbent in office since June 30, 2016. The legend certainly has an irresistible aura and natural acumen for public dealing, which has put him at such a high level of the constitution without much prior experience.