When sports stars turn to politics

When sports stars turn to politics

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  Eric Cantona
  Eric Cantona announced he was gathering signatures to run for President of France. Here, we take a look at other sports stars who turned to politics...

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  Sebastian Coe
  The head of Britain's successful Olympic bid and now chair of the London 2012 Organising committee, Coe first shot to fame by winning back to back gold medals in the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. After retiring from athletics he was elected as a Conservative MP in 1992, but served just one term before losing his seat in the 1997 General election.

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  George Weah
  The only African player to win the Fifa World Player of the year, Weah is an icon in his native Liberia, which lead to him gaining enough votes to run for President in 2005. The former AC Milan and Chelsea striker got to the final stage but was defeated by 12 per cent. In 2011 he had another go at getting into government as vice presidential candidate, but was unsuccessful once again.

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  Imran Khan
  The Pakistani all-rounder racked up over 3,800 Test runs during his career and captained his country to their only World Cup victory in 1992. He later founded the political party Pakistan Movement for Justice and was elected to Parliament in 2002. He resigned from his seat in 2007 in protest over the election of President Pervez Musharraf and spent a week in prison after being arrested on terrorism charges.

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• 5/11

  Roman Pavlyuchenko
  The Tottenham forward turned heads when he won a seat on a regional council in Stavropol krai, in south west Russia. Pavlyuchenko was one of six listed candidates for Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and was elected when his party received 66 per cent of the vote. Due to his Spurs duties Pavlyuchenko does not attend council meetings, but offers advice on the development possibilities for exercise and sport.

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  Romario
  The former Barcelona star lit up the 1994 World Cup, which he won with Brazil, and is said to have scored a total of 1000 goals in his career. After retiring from the game he joined the Brazilian Socialist party and in elections in 2010 was elected Congressman. Romario's success on the pitch gave him wide political appeal, and he has said of himself: "I'm like money, at the end of the day everybody likes me."

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  Jack Kemp
  The late American football star turned politician was a quarterback for the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills in the 1960s. Elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican Congressman in 1970, Kemp (right) later served in George Bush Senior's Cabinet. He ran as running-mate to Presidential hopeful Bob Dole (left) in the 1996 election, who was defeated by Bill Clinton.

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  Bill Bradley
  Bradely's interest in politics began with studying a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford. He rose to fame with the New York Knicks, where he won two NBA championships and was later inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was Senator for New Jersey for 18 years and made an unsuccessful bid for Democratic Presidential candidate in 2000, losing to Al Gore, before retiring from political office.

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• 9/11

  Menzies Campbell
  The former Liberal Democrat leader was once known as "the fastest white man on the planet" and used to hold the British 100m record, with a time of 10.2 seconds. He represented Britain in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, but did not win any medals. Campbell replaced Charles Kennedy as Lib Dem leader in 2006 but only had 18 months in the job, resigning in October 2007.

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  Dawn Fraser
  Legendary swimmer Fraser is one of Australia's greatest ever Olympians, winning gold medals in three successive games, in 1956, 1960 and 1964. She was voted Australia's greatest ever female athlete and received an Order of the British Empire for her achievements. Her political career was less successful: she served on the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for three years before her seat was abolished.

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  Matthew Syed
  Syed, the former British table tennis number one, was four times Commonwealth champion and represented Britain in the 1992 Barcelona and 2000 Sydney Olympics. A long time member of the Labour party, he stood as a candidate for the parliamentary seat of Wokingham in 2001 but finished third. He is now a journalist and author.

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