Putting Logos on the World’s Best Running Feet: The Emergence of Apparel Sponsors in Ethiopian and Kenyan Athletics

AbstractSince the 1990s, most athletics federations have undertaken sponsorship negotiations with private shoe/apparel corporations. While these deals bring great sums of cash into the sport, some of which trickles down to the athletes, a great deal of it is used to leverage both hard and soft power in different regions of the world. The sponsorship regulations of national athletics federations have been recently politicized because of the ways that they conflict with their individual sponsorship agreements with other companies. Few, however, have examined the historical lineages and concerns for Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes – who come from some of the most cash poor and talent rich regions of the athletics world. This paper charts the historical relations and implications of the changes to commercial development and sponsorship as it pertains to Ethiopia and Kenya to broaden the geopolitical scope on this issue. Drawing on archival material and interviews with athletes and agents, it becomes clear that sponsors had their eyes on far more than outfitting the world’s top distance runners with their logo. Rather, they were after soft power that would enable them greater control in the flow of goods and capital to and within these countries.Keywords: Track and fieldrunningsponsorshipshoe corporationseast Africa Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 See for example: Bryce Dyer, ‘A Pragmatic Approach to Resolving Technological Unfairness: the Case of Nike’s Vaporfly and Alphafly Running Footwear’, Sports Medicine - Open 6, (2020): 21.2 In particular, recent years have seen the politicization of Rule 40 - largely politicized in the United States and the United Kingdom because they get more exposure, but this has been different in Africa because fewer sponsors and external stakeholders have been involved in the business of athletics. See: Sean Ingle, ‘British athletes launch legal action against BOA over sponsorship rules’, The Guardian, November 15, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/nov/15/british-athletes-launch-legal-action-boa-british-olympic-association-tokyo-2020 (accessed May 14, 2023).3 Scholars of sport have distinguished between pre-modern and modern sport by examining characteristics of the latter that dictate a broader array of shared games and activities. Allen Guttmann, for instance, cites specialization, quantification, bureaucratic organization, and quest for records, as a few main traits that separate modern sports from traditional sports. Allen Guttmann, From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports (New York: Colombia University Press, 1978).4 Adom Getachew, Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019), 54.5 Ibid.6 Katrin Bromber, Sports & Modernity in Late Imperial Ethiopia (Martlesham: Boydell & Brewer, 2020), 35. https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847012920/sports-and-modernity-in-late-imperial-ethiopia/7 Ibid., 15.8 See Paulous Milkias, Haile Selassie, Western Education, and Political Revolution in Ethiopia (Cambria Press, 2006); Teshale Tibebi, The Making of Modern Ethiopia: 1896–1974 (Red Sea Press, 1995); Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1991, 2 ed. (Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2002) A Girogis, Teshale9 Bromber, Sports & Modernity.10 Tamirat Gebremariam and Benoit Gaudin, ‘Sports and Physical Education in Ethiopia during the Italian Occupation, 1936-1941’, in Sports in African History, Politics, and Identity Formation, ed. Michael J. Gennaro and Saheed Aderinto (London: Routledge, 2019), 202.11 Peter Garretson, A Victorian Gentlemen and Ethiopian Nationalist: The Life and Times of Hakim Wärqenäh, Dr. Charles Martin (Melton: James Currey, 2012), 127.12 Bromber, Sports & Modernity, 170.13 John Bale and Joe Sang, Kenyan Running. Movement Culture, Geography and Global Change (London: Routledge, 1997), 49.14 Ibid., 73.15 Ibid., 78.16 Ibid., 4–5.17 Erkki Vettenniemi, ‘Prologue: Representations of Running’, The International Journal of the History of Sport 29, no. 7 (2012): 967–79.18 Tim Judah, Bikila: Ethiopia’s Barefoot Olympian (London: Reportage Press, 2009), 76.19 Jörg Krieger, Power and Politics in World Athletics. A Critical History (London: Routledge, 2021), 100.20 Today there are fifty recognized NFs from Africa.21 Michelle Sikes, ‘Ousting South Africa: Olympic Clashes of 1968,’ Acta Academia 50, no. 50 (2018): 14.22 Joseph Turrini, The End of Amateurism in American Track and Field (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2010).23 Krieger, Power and Politics, 119. Also see: Barbara Smit, Pitch Invasion: Three Stripes, Two Brothers, One Feud: Adidas, Puma and the Making of Modern Sport (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 2007).24 Turrini, The End of Amateurism, 86.25 Smit, Pitch Invasion, 61.26 Ibid., 61.27 Newspaper Clipping, ‘adidas 9,9 The Running Shoe of the Future’, n.d., Folder ‘Correspondence with Great Britain 1953–1970,’ World Athletics Archive, Monte Carlo, Monaco (hereafter WAA).28 Austin Duckworth, Thomas M. Hunt, and Jan Todd, ‘Cold Hard Cash: Commercialization, Politics, and Amateurism in United States Track and Field,’ Sport in History 38, no. 2 (2018): 145–63.29 Krieger, Power and Politics, 120.30 Turrini, The End of Amateurism, 90–91.31 Alison M. Wrynn, ‘‘A Debt Was Paid off in Tears’: Science, IOC Politics and the Debate about High Altitude in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics,’ The International Journal of the History of Sport 23, no. 7 (2006): 1161.32 Neil Amdurs, ‘Keino Breaks Olympic Record in 1,500-Meter Run, with Ryun of U.S. Second’, The New York Times, October 20, 1968, https://www.nytimes.com/1968/10/21/archives/keino-breaks-olympic-record-in-1500meter-run-with-ryun-of-us-second.html (accessed May 1, 2023).33 Matthew P. Llewellyn and John Gleaves, The Rise and Fall of Olympic Amateurism, Sport and Society (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016).34 Letter, Col. Bekele Gizaw to IAAF Treasurer Frederick Holder, April 25, 1972, Folder ‘IAAF-Ethiopia Correspondence 1950-1980,’ WAA.35 Pain states that the IAAF Council decided it would be too difficult to legislate because of ‘the practice of business houses having their own athletic clubs, and athletes belonging to such clubs wearing track suits bearing the name of their firm.’ See: Letter, Donald Pain to Otto Mayer, November 12, 1963, File ‘D-RM02-ATHLE/001,’ Folder ‘IOC-IAAF Correspondence 1914–1972,’ Olympic Studies Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland (hereafter OSC).36 Martin Polley, ‘‘The Amateur Rules’: Amateurism and Professionalism in Post-war British Athletics’, Contemporary British History 14, no. 2 (2000): 94.37 Letter, IAAF Sec. Treasurer to E. Virvilis, December 10, 1953, Folder ‘IAAF-Kenya Correspondence 1980 – 1995,’ WAA.38 Krieger, Power and Politics, 121.39 Richard Sandomir, ‘Ben Jipcho, a Runner Who Sacrificed Himself for a Teammate, Dies at 77,’ The New York Times, July 30, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/sports/olympics/ben-jipcho-dead.html (accessed May 2, 2023).40 Turrini, The End of Amateurism, 153.41 Pat Putnam, ‘The Pros are Beginning to Look Professional,’ Sports Illustrated, May 6, 1974, https://vault.si.com/vault/1974/05/06/the-pros-are-beginning-to-look-professional (accessed May 2, 2023).42 Turrini, The End of Amateurism, 120.43 Ibid., 125.44 See: Draft, ‘Memorandum of Agreement 1972 Between Adidas Sports SCHUHFARBRIKEN ADI DASSLER and the KOA,’ n.d., Folder ‘IAAF-Kenya Correspondence 1953–1980’, WAA.45 ‘Steve Prefontaine and his three ‘brothers’,’ Runnerspace, January 28, 2011, https://www.runnerspace.com/news.php?news_id=213860 (accessed May 2, 2023).46 For more, see: Jörg Krieger and April Henning, ‘Dropping the Amateur: The International Association of Athletics Federations and the Turn Toward Professionalism,’ Sport History Review 51, no. 1 (2020): 64–83.47 Jörg Krieger, ‘The Missing Involvement of Athletes in the Governance of International Athletics: A Historical Perspective,’ Journal of Olympic Studies 1, no. 2 (2020): 93–114.48 ‘Agents Call for IAAF to End Amateurism,’ Washington Post, September 2, 1989, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1989/09/02/agents-call-for-iaaf-to-end-amateurism/231ce1cc-7ae9-4a81-b55b-8cef04ab3211/ (accessed May 2, 2023).49 Memorandum, ‘Robert Ouko KAAA/TAC Trust,’ January 3, 1985, Folder ‘IAAF-Kenya Correspondence 1980 – 1995,’ WAA.50 Report, ‘Report of The Probe Committee: On The Former Secretary of Kenyan Amatuer Athletic Association Robert Ouko,’ June 1989, Folder ‘IAAF-Kenya Correspondence 1980 – 1995,’ WAA.51 Letter, John B. Holt to EAF Press Akilu Yimtato, March 25, 1980, Folder ‘IAAF-Ethiopia Correspondence 1950-1980,’ WAA.52 Letter, Mariam Egziebher to John B. Holt, June 26, 1980, Folder, ‘IAAF-Ethiopia Correspondence 1950-1980,’ WAA.53 Keith Peters (Former Sports Marketing Director, Nike), in discussion with the author, February 2023.54 May 18, 1990 ‘Parliamentary Motion on Sports’ (no author), Folder ‘IAAF-Kenya Correspondence 1980 – 1995,’ WAA.55 Elias Makori, ‘Dr Gabriele Rosa: Final Mile for Father of Kenyan Marathon Running,’ Nation, February 12, 2023, https://nation.africa/kenya/sports/athletics/gabriele-rosa-final-mile-father-kenyan-marathon-running-4120328 (accessed May 1, 2023).56 Letter, Isaiah Kiplagat to Mr. Gianna Gola President of FILA, January 11, 1995, Folder ‘IAAF-Kenya Correspondence 1980 – 1995,’ WAA.57 Minutes, Meeting Kenyan Amateur Athletics Association, January 27-28, 1995, Folder ‘IAAF-Kenya Correspondence 1980 – 1995,’ WAA.58 Letter, Paul E Loving at Nike to Fila General Counsel Stan Martindell, August 28, 1977, Folder ‘IAAF-Kenya Correspondence 1996 – 2001,’ WAA.59 Tim Layden, ‘Long-Distance Land the dominance of Kenyan Marathoners Begins With Countless Miles in the Hills of Home,’ Sports Illustrated, April 23, 2001, https://vault.si.com/vault/2001/04/23/long-distance-land-the-dominance-of-kenyan-marathoners-begins-with-countless-miles-in-the-hills-of-home (accessed August 3, 2023).60 Jeffrey Gettleman, ‘Money Given to Kenya, Since Stolen, Puts Nike in Spotlight,’ The New York Times, March 5, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/world/africa/nike-under-scrutiny-as-payments-for-kenya-runners-are-drained.html (accessed May 2, 2023).61 Letter, Antonio Agostinho, Gianni Demadonna, and Jan Scheers to AIMS, EAF, Jos Hermens, and IAAF, January 1, 1996, Folder ‘Ethiopia-Kenya Correspondence 1994-1996,’ WAA.62 Interview with Spencer Nel, (Global Sports Marketing Director, Adidas), in discussion with the author, October 2022. See also: Christopher Kelsall, ‘Did the Chicago Marathon or Nike prevent Adidas-Contracted East African Athletes from Competing in the Chicago Marathon?’ Athletics Illustrated, October 29, 2021, https://athleticsillustrated.com/did-the-chicago-marathon-or-nike-prevent-adidas-contracted-east-african-athletes-from-competing-in-chicago-marathon/ (accessed May 2, 2023).63 Jonathan Gault, ‘Seb Coe on Sydney & Athing, the Diamond League, & a New Global Event in 2026,’ Letsrun.com, December 16, 2022, https://www.letsrun.com/news/2022/12/seb-coe-on-sydney-athing-the-diamond-league-a-new-global-event-in-2026/ (accessed May 2, 2023).Additional informationNotes on contributorsHannah BorensteinHannah Borenstein is an anthropologist and Harper-Schmidt Fellow in the University of Chicago Society of Fellows and Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences Collegiate Division.Jörg KriegerJörg Krieger is Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Associate Professor (20%) at the Inland University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Norway.