‘Money, lifestyle’ – Bungei explains why athletes struggle after retirement
By Joel Sang, August 5, 2023Olympic 800m champion Wilfred Bungei has explained why most athletes lead struggling and poor lifestyles after they retire.
Bungei, an Olympic champion, said most athletes get a lot of money but will not put it into investment. According to the retired short-distance runner, youngsters need investment advisors who will lead them to make prudent choices that will in turn help them in the future.
Bungei’s advice
“Most sportsmen and women get a lot of money when they are still very young.
“Second, they may not get someone to advise them on investment. Three, most of them get money and think they cannot listen to anyone. The ones with the know-it syndrome. It is a challenge we have had, and the other day, I spoke to Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba, and he asked me, ‘Wilfred, what can we do so that we do not see these incidents (happening anymore?).
“I think it falls on both the federations and agents. I was fortunate to have a very good agent and coach who mentored me like a father. He told me, ‘Every coin you get, make sure you invest’,” Bungei is quoted by a local media outlet.
Taking into account that a sportsperson’s career is short, Bungei explains the need to forego luxury and invest money instead. He says most young athletes are keen to buy high-end cars and forget that investing is way better than short-term luxuries.
“The life of a sportsperson is short. Most of us retire at 30. When you retire at 30, what are you going to be doing all the other years if you do not invest well?”
“If today at 22 you want to buy a Toyota V8, a TX, or a Mercedes, what will you drive at 50? So many of our sportsmen do not even buy houses when they get money. They think about buying a car. My agent told me that you can buy cars later on. Invest your money first,” he added.
Lifestyle
Apart from a lack of investment, Bungei, who retired in 2010 and at one point admitted he struggled with alcoholism, blamed lifestyle as another issue that active runners need to look into keenly.
“Another thing is lifestyle. Some people want to live certain lifestyles. If I am staying in a five-star hotel in Europe, I want when I come back to Kenya, instead of going back to the village, you want to go to a five-star hotel because you think you are doing well, and this is where we go wrong as athletes.”
“We need to talk to our sportsmen and women, especially our athletes. We need to make them understand that they will not see the same amount of money they earn once they retire,” he continued.
Bungei said that athletes can earn a huge amount of money in a single day, but after retirement, it would be very difficult to get that kind of money again.
“If you win an Olympic medal today, number one, the kiting company may give you $100,000 (Ksh14 million). The winning prize, for example, at the World Championships is $60,000 (Kssh8.4 million). In just one day, you may get $200,000 (Ksh28 million).
“Some of the marathoners, we are talking $300,000 (Ksh42 million) in a single day. That is money you will never see afterward. That is why we need to talk to our sportsmen and women to make them understand that they need to invest so that they can live a better life,” he concluded.
Bungei’s comments come after President William Ruto promised a special package for excelling sportsmen and women.