How Kenyan Athletes Make Their Money

World famous Kenyan athletes make their money from a variety of sources, some of which are unknown to the average person. Take the case of the late world marathon champion Samuel Kamau Wanjiru who was the first Kenyan sportsman to earn a billion shillings in sports. Official figures show that Wanjiru made Sh1 billion between 2008 and May 2011.

When he first broke into the international scene in 2005, Wanjiru made a neat ($100,000) Sh8.6 million for breaking the world record. As of May this year, Wanjiru’s total prize money in his athletics career was about $1,886,000 (Sh164 million), according to the Association of Road Runners Statisticians.

Endorsements

And this excludes prize money, bonuses and numerous other endorsements. Soon after winning the Beijing Olympics Marathon gold medal, a Japanese clothes manufacturer signed Wanjiru for a five year contract worth $3 million (Sh258 million).

And an American sportswear manufacturer, Nike, tripled his annual endorsements to $800,000 (Sh68.8m).

Appearance Fee

Appearance fee from the three London Marathon and two appearances in Chicago earned him a further $1 million (Sh86 million) while the World Marathon Majors (these are golden label marathon races in London, Boston, Chicago, Berlin, New York and World Championships/Olympic Games) produced another $1 million (Sh86 million).

Nike gave him undisclosed bonuses for breaking the world records, winning the Olympics, and the London and Chicago marathons where bonuses are higher for athletes who perform well.

All these monies finally totaled to more than a billion shillings.

Soft Loans

Getting soft loans running into millions is normal. Following this method of earning money, it is said that and one man even sold Wanjiru a house in Ngong on which he still had a balance when he died.

Despite all the money he earned, however, Wanjiru is said to have died a poor man something attributed to extravagant spending and poor business sense.

Investing

A Dutch writer who has written a book on Wanjiru, Mr Frits Conijn, describes the runner’s businesses as “a total mess.”

 “Take the apartment complex in Nakuru (Birds Nest). During the construction everybody was stealing materials and he was buying the workers expensive dinners. In the end the return on investment was less than 10 per cent while the return on investment on a more or less risk-free Kenyan bond for two years is already more than 20 per cent,” Mr. Conjin told the Daily Nation. Until his death, the athlete drove a Sh8 million Range Rover and an equally expensive Toyota VX.

The Rise and Fall

After failing to run in the London Marathon this year, following a court case in which he was charged with assaulting his wife, Wanjiru was broke.

Wanjiru’s journey into the big money game started in 1999 when a Japanese athletics coach Sunish Kubayash, watched a barefoot boy win the national primary school cross country championships in Kisumu.  Within a few years, and with training in Japan, the barefoot boy was world marathon champion at age 18.

One victory that made him a household name was the Beijing Olympics, in which he clocked 2:06:32, breaking a 44-year record set by a Portuguese.

Wanjiru died under controversial circumstances at the age of 25.