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Player power: Sportsmen who turned politician

MENZIES CAMPBELL
Was: 'The fastest white man on the planet', who ran in the Tokyo Olympics, and set a British 100m record of 10.2 seconds.
Became: Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

IDI AMIN
Was: Ugandan champion boxer in the light heavyweight division between 1951 and 1960.
Became: "Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular".

SEBASTIAN COE
Was: One of the world's greatest ever middle distance athletes, a double Olympic gold medallist in the 1,500m.
Became: Tory MP, a life peer and the man charged with organising the London 2012 games.

LEARIE CONSTANTINE
Was: A dashing fast bowler, who helped the West Indies to their first ever victory in a Test match.
Became: A welfare officer in Liverpool in World War II, then the Minister of Community Works and Utilities in the Trinidad & Tobago government, then a life peer in Britain.

IMRAN KHAN
Was: One of cricket's finest ever all-rounders, captaining Pakistan to victory in the 1992 World Cup.
Became: The founder of unsuccessful political party Movement for Justice, placed under house arrest by Pervez Musharraf's government in 2007.

OLEG BLOKHIN
Was: With 112 appearances, the USSR's most-capped footballer, winning European footballer of the year in 1975.
Became: A member of parliament in the Ukraine, combining his political career with coaching the national side.

COLIN MOYNIHAN
Was: Cox of a winning Oxford eight in the 1977 boat race, then an Olympic silver medallist in Moscow.
Became: Tory MP and Minister of Sport under Margaret Thatcher, now Chairman of the British Olympic Association.

BERNARD LAPORTE
Was: A promising scrum half and coach of the French rugby union side.
Became: Minister for sport in Nicolas Sarkozy's government.

DAWN FRASER
Was: Australia's greatest female athlete, a swimmer who won four Olympic golds.
Became: Independent Member of Parliament in New South Wales.

BILL BRADLEY
Was: Brilliant at basketball for NBA champions the New York Knicks.
Became: Senator for New Jersey and candidate for the Democrats' presidential nomination in 2000.

MIRIAM BLASCO
Was: Judo gold medallist for Spain at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
Became: Member of Parliament for Partido Popular, Spain's right-wing opposition party.

BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL
Was: A Native American who represented the US in judo at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
Became: US Senator, who changed sides from Democrat to Republican.

GEORGE WEAH
Was: 1995 World Footballer of the Year, scoring one of the greatest-ever goals for AC Milan.
Became: A candidate who narrowly failed to win the presidential elections in his native Liberia.

FIRST POSTED AUGUST 8, 2008