Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) is one of the most famous athletes turned politicians (Picture: GETTY / REX)
From the boxing ring to the presidential palace, the track to Parliament, the worlds of sports and politics often intersect in mysterious ways.
In recent years, a growing number of athletes have tried to swap their kits to suits – and Georgia’s Mikheil Kavelashvili is one of them.
The former Manchester City striker is looking to leverage his fame into a successful career in politics.
Georgian Dream, the pro-Russian ruling party, on Wednesday picked him as its candidate for the presidential elections due to be held on December 14.
Former Man City player Mikheil Kavelashvili will soon be Georgia’s president
The 53-year-old – an ex-national team and Premier League player – will face sitting president Salome Zourabichvili.
Although the post is largely ceremonial, the choice of Kavelashvili is likely to be viewed by the European Union and the US as a yet another sign that Georgia is turning away from the West and moving closer to Russia.
Who is Georgia’s Mikheil Kavelashvili?
Kavelashvili started his career in football for Dinamo Tbilisi and was then a striker in the Premier League for Manchester City in the mid-1990s and in several clubs in the Swiss Super League.
He moved into politics in 2016, and was elected to parliament on a ticket by the Georgian Dream party, before leaving in 2022 to co-found People’s Power party.
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He has made a name in Georgia’s political scene for his anti-Western views and for being one of the most openly pro-Russian players in mainstream politics.
Under the veil of his party, Kavelashvili has, for example, championed the foreign agent and anti-LGBT laws.
His nomination was announced by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire former prime minister who founded Georgian Dream and is widely seen as the country’s most powerful figure.
Ivanishvili praised the ex-football player as an ‘outstanding’ politician and athlete, contrasting him with Zourabichvili, who he accused of ‘gross betrayal’ of the country.
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His election is all but assured, as Georgian Dream dominates the electoral college of members of parliament and local government representatives.
Other athletes who gave politics a go
Figures like Vitali Klitschko, the heavyweight boxing champion turned Kyiv mayor, and football legend George Weah, who became Liberia’s president, are further examples of sporting heroes using their fame to influence the political scene in their country.
Vitali was only a year into his retirement from boxing when he was elected as mayor of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in 2014.
Once a force in the ring, he found himself facing even worse threats eight years later, in 2022, when Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of his country.
Pakistan’s Imran Khan was a cricket star before becoming PM in 2018
His younger brother and fellow boxer Wladimir, who won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division at the 1996 Olympics, travels abroad to drum up support for Ukraine.
In the UK, Sebastian Coe, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in middle-distance running, transitioned …read more
Source:: Metro
