Nike And Kenya's "Secret"

Kenya athlete Eliud Kipgeorge was in Berlin marathon when

There are quality problems for his customized running shoes.

Slipping out, affecting his performance.

Kenya athletes protesting corruption.

(all data pictures)

Recently, the United States

Nike has been exposed by the media to bribe Kenya High Tech officials to exchange bribes to facilitate Kenya famous runners to wear Nike shoes for brand promotion in major international competitions.

The United States has said ironically that Nike's well-known slogan "Just do it" should be changed to "Just Bribe it".

However, the government of Kenya wants to investigate the matter in the end and still faces many obstacles from the United States.

Last September, Kenya athlete Eliud Kipgeorge first crossed the Berlin marathon finish line and completed the race in 2 hours and 4 minutes.

This is his personal best result, but it is 63 seconds behind the marathon world's best result.

What's interesting is that everyone believed that the reason why he didn't refresh the best in the world was because he had Nike shoes on his feet.

The more than 40 kilometer race has just passed 1 kilometers, and the white custom Nike running shoes of kirkqiao are wrong. The fluorescent green insole of the left foot slipped out and half of it was outside the shoes.

At the 10 kilometer place, the same situation happened to the right foot insole.

Kip Qiao guy, who is making great efforts to attack the best in the world, can not easily stop. But before long, his feet grind blood bubbles, and his toes are bleeding. He can only endure pain and run his teeth.

"Wearing these shoes is not a good sense of running, but actually it's a pair of good shoes. I just have bad luck today."

The famous man who missed the dream told the media with tolerance, "maybe the glue on the insole is too sticky, which is pure accident."

This is the sports competition. I accept the result, but actually I can run faster. "

In fact, this is not the first time Nike has troubled Kenya athletes.

On 1997, John Kagway, Kenya, on the way to the New York marathon, the shoelace of Nike running shoes was loosened 3 times.

They always insist on wearing Nike shoes in international important events, which is closely related to the generous sponsorship of the brand.

According to reports, over the past 20 years, Nike has paid millions of dollars to the Kenya National Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), while Kenya athletes wear Nike shoes in the Olympic Games and world competitions.

This African country is good at training the top runners. Whenever they appear on the track, they will bring pressure and fear to other players.

However, what the kip Qiao guy had not expected was that behind this seemingly fair and aboveboard sponsorship project, there were many "untold secrets".

According to US magazine, the mysterious paction between Nike and Kenya Tian Lian has aroused some people's doubts in the early 2011, but Nike insists that she has not done any illegal activities.

In October of last year, the Kenya government dispatched a police investigation and quickly suspended 3 officials for 180 days.

I heard that hundreds of thousands of dollars sponsored by Nike did not fall on their heads, but they were all pocketed by those big faces. The extremely angry Kenya athletes protested at the field headquarters in Nairobi.

These elite athletes sleep on the grass and carry slogans with the word "vampire" - spelling is wrong, many of them have little education.

A member of the board of directors of the Kenya Athletic Association told the media that the corruption culture of the organization was deeply rooted and shameless. Officials often extorted money from athletes who had not passed the drug test. Chairman Isaiah Gipragat had asked Nike to directly award the bonus to his personal account, but was refused by the other party.

"Take it away! It will kill you!" during an interview in a quiet and quiet restaurant in Nairobi, a member of the Kenya Tian Lian saw a well-known media reporter and took out a Nike contract promising to pay 500 thousand dollars. He immediately opened his eyes and cried out.

He said he had received death threats because he had openly discussed corruption.

It is reported that Nike has had more than 20 years of cooperation with Kenya Tian Lian.

But in 2009, Nike met its competitors.

A sporting goods company offered to sponsor famous runners in Kenya. In order to avoid this cooperation, Nike has adopted special "remedial measures".

"Can we talk about this?" wrote an executive at Nike in a letter to an official of the Kenya Federation of athletics.

"You and I are old acquaintances."

Before long, the Kenya Federation of trade unions suddenly changed their words and signed a new contract with Nike.

Nike agreed to pay $1 million 300 thousand to $1 million 500 thousand a year for sponsorship, plus $100 thousand a year for Xie Li and $500 thousand for one-time signing.

Britain says it should be used to train and support Kenya athletes who dream of running away from poverty, but they do not stay long in the IAAF account.

Just before Nike remitted money to the Kenya Tian Lian, Isaiah jeireat was writing an email to the Nike executive Robert Lotvis, titled "invoice", which called "urgent! Dear Robert, $500 thousand is the signing money".

10 hours later, Lott Weiss replied.

"I see."

He wrote, "I will submit it at once.

Thank you. "

According to the bank records that were subsequently collected, the 500 thousand dollars were pferred to a few senior officials of the Kenya Federation of Tian Lian in a few days.

It is doubtful that no large track and field events were being held at that time, and all the money had been fooled by the Executive Committee of the Kenya Athletic Association, including the $200 thousand remitted to a bank account outside Kenya.

"This is bribery."

A former employee of Kenya Tian Lian said firmly that Nike had held several secret meetings with officials of the Kenya Athletic Association. Nike executives have always been aware that these rewards are not appropriate.

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After the incident was revealed, 3 Kenya Federation of field officials who were accused of bribing by Nike were suspended and investigated.

Nike's share price also plummeted.

John Chisongo, a Kenya anti-corruption pioneer who has been away from other lands for fear of death, told the media, "whenever I see the words" signing money "and" usage fee ", I will be alert immediately.

They are all traditional words to whitewash bribes. "

Analysts believe that Nike can not afford to lose the sponsorship contract for Kenya athletes.

Running is an integral part of Nike's brand, and Kenya people are very important in running culture.

It is reported that the determination of the Kenya authorities to investigate corruption seems unshakable, and Nike is under increasing pressure.

However, so far, the US company, which has a lot of money, refused to disclose more information. It just said in a statement that Nike's intention to pay the money is to help and support athletes and their service teams.

"Nike is doing business honestly and honestly, and so is our partners."

Nike told the fortune magazine.

Investigators in Kenya are trying to answer a question: did Nike deliberately open the door to officials in Kenya so that they could put their money in their pockets?

"Why do we have to promise to pay such a huge sum of money?" an unnamed investigator told the media, "only Nike can tell us the answer."

In Kyrgyzstan, the US government should take over the matter and launch an investigation as soon as possible, but Nike has not been investigated by the US authorities at present.

Ji Songge said that if the US government was unwilling to investigate the allegations faced by a landmark American company such as Nike, it would be "hypocritical" to bombardment of corruption in Kenya.

U.S. diplomats in Nairobi, Kenya, say the US government is willing to investigate all alleged corruption charges against US companies, but at the moment they do not know the details of Nike's deal, apart from Kenya and international media reports.

A Kenya prosecutor also believes that in many corruption cases, tucked up is a sign of criminal intent, and there is no obvious concealment in Nike's case. They clearly listed the signing contract in the contract.

The prosecutor, who did not want to be named, told the media that Nike executives knew that it would be very difficult for officials in Kenya to take the money.

Analysts say the incident is particularly tricky because it does not seem to apply to the US anti corruption act, which encompasses US companies and foreign government officials.

Although the Kenya Tian Lian receives some government funds, it is not a government agency.

It is worth noting that Nike's bribery scandal is reported to be coming at a time when Western embassies and consulates are putting pressure on Kenya to fight corruption.

Western countries, including the United States, threatened to impose economic sanctions on Kenya if they did not solve the corruption problem as soon as possible. The White House also issued a concrete plan to combat corruption in Kenya.

Therefore, the Kenya government interpreted Nike's high-profile anti-corruption and was interpreted by the United States and other western countries as "a tit for tat".

In fact, as early as in 2009, officials in Kenya sent an e-mail to accuse Nike of treating the country as a "garbage dump" dealing with substandard defective products.

But the US media did not think so. They said that the allegation was likely to be a strategy for ending the contract with Nike as soon as possible, because shortly after the complaint, the officials of the Kenya Athletic Association began contacting another sporting goods company.

Roger Berek, a political science scholar at University of Colorado, seems to have been exposed to corruption scandals from FIFA to the Kenya Athletic Association. "The sports community has been evolving in the loopholes of governance".

Bribery, misappropriation and "unpleasant and inappropriate business practices" are commonplace in this circle.

"I always hear such things from sports officials," he said. "In order to survive in this circle, this is the rules of the game."