Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
Mathews Ndanyi
19 May 2011
Athletes want the Athletics Kenya (AK) to set up a counseling and investments advisory body to help upcoming runners manage their earnings. They want AK to take the responsibility of sensitising the young athletes to invest their money wisely for long-term benefits instead of spending it on luxuries. Former two-time Boston Marathon champion Moses Tanui said they have proposed to AK to set up the unit that will be dealing with counseling and generally educating runners before, during and after their running careers. “Many of us regret what we went through after plunging into fame and financial success but it’s now upon AK to look for ways of advising our young athletes so that they avoid the pitfalls we may have gone through,” said Tanui.
Tanui said currently, the athletes were earning a lot of money at a very young age and without guidance, many of them end up wasting the earnings because they have no one to advise or counsel them. Unlike in the past, Tanui said the athletes had a short running life span and the resources they get must be well planned because many of them quit from the track at a young age but with good investments life will not be difficult. Currently athletes bring into the country more than Sh4bn annually and some of them have invested heavily in real estate while many others squander the earnings in a short period and turn back to poverty.
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