The way to glory – show me the money!

Sports is a show in which talent, passion, and a lot of money are invested. A simple calculation of the incomes made last year by the top paid sportsmen (like they are in the Forbes Top of Celebrities) indicates a thing that is not surprising at all, that America is the place to be. The six Americans from the top won 281 million dollars, compared to the 140 millions obtained by the four Europeans.

Far from the head of the platoon is Tiger Woods, with $100 millions. In the second place, the pugilist Oscar De La Hoya got half of this amount, and, the third place is taken by a golf player, Phil Mickelson with $42 millions. So golf gives more than 30% of the incomes of the wealthiest sportsmen, although in Europe it has an audience comparable to that of soccer in America.

But even so, from the posture of a Cinderella of the sports disciplines in the US, an American club of the Major Soccer League guarantees incomes of over $250 millions for the next five years to David Beckham. Meet the most highly paid sportsmen in the world.

Eldrick "Tiger" Woods Date and place of birth: December 30th 1975, Cypress, California
Sports fortune: $100 millions
A few years ago, in a meeting of the Nike actionaries, Phil Knight who was CEO at that time was asked if there isn’t a better way for the company to spend 100 millions dollars than giving those to Tiger Woods for promoting services. Knight’s answer came shortly: “No”, writes Golf Digest.

In 1996 when he had his debut in professional golf, Woods made himself noticed through his long and precise shots he used to make despite his inferior equipment. Although Woods tried to excel in all the aspects of the game, “the force was always with him” and it seems that he is responsible for the athletic aspect that a lot of the professional golf players added to their style. One of the most charismatic faces from the history of sport, Woods looks for consistency: he takes part at 15-20 tournaments every year instead of 25-30 like other players.

His career was marked by two major changes in his style: one appeared in the season 1997-1998 and another dramatic one noticed in 2003. Woods wanted a change in his swing because he had recently suffered a surgery at his left knee.

The specialists noticed the change immediately and the press started looking for various explanations for the inexplicable: why would a player at the top of his career change his swing? It was as if a right-hander football player would change into a left-hander over night. It was in the same period that Woods separated himself from his coach Butch Harmon.

“If something is not broken, why bother fixing it?” said Harmon about the determination with which Woods insisted on changing his swing. This determination cost Woods the lost of his coach and a serious decline in his career, decline who was fixed recently, when his new swing started to work. Woods’ domination on the golf court made some commentators wonder if this harms sport and the interest that this awakes in the public, since Woods wins everything. It was proved that this was an absurd assumption.

Golf owes its popularity with the youth because of the fantastic evolutions that Woods had; the money the organizers of the PGA Tour give tripled since Woods became a professional player; the audience the tournaments in which Woods took part at CBS determined this station to raise their offer with 40% for the PGA for broadcasting rights. The player says of himself that he is cablinasian. He used this acronym first (Caucasian, black, Indian-American, and Asian) in Oprah’s show.

Woods inherited from his mother the Buddhism religion, of which the sportsman says that it helps him control his stubbornness and his lack of patience, and from his father he got his nickname Tiger. He is married to Elin Nordegren, a former Swedish model, with whom he has a daughter, Sam Alexis, born on the 18th of June 2007. At the beginning of last year, Woods became neighbor with Celine Dion after he bought a 39 millions dollars property in Jupiter Island, Florida, a neighborhood which is in Forbes Top of the most expensive residential areas.

Irony makes that the management of the neighborhood’s golf club has a very restrictive policy: to protect the intimacy of its members and to avoid the curiosity of the press, celebrities are not admitted on the court if they are not guests.

Oscar de la Hoya
Date and place of birth: February 4th 1973, Los Angeles
Sport fortune: $43 millions
A redutable pugilist, with a delicate alure; a charming, elegant guy which made boxing a sport on women’s taste. A Beckham in the rink. De La Hoya went a long way until becoming the best paid professional boxer. When he was a child, run helped him escape the agressions of tougher guys. Oscar used to hide in his parents’ bedroom fearing his pursuers but also fearing that his father would find out that he is afraid.

Former professional boxer, Joel De La Hoya put the boxing gloves into his son’s hands and asked him to defend himself. Encouraged by his family members, which gave him small amounts of money every time he won a match in his adolescence, De La Hoya became one of the top amateur pugilists in the USA with 223 victories out of which 163 through KO and only 5 defeats. In 1992 he won the gold medal at the Olympic Games of Barcelona, like he had promised his mother who died when she was 35 because of breast cancer. Spoilt by his fans with the nickname Golden Boy, De La Hoya got professional in 1992 and holds the world titles at 4 categories.

He was defeated through KO only once in his career, in the match with Bernard Hopkins: this sent him to the floor with a direct on his body. De La Hoya’s fee for this match was 30 million dollars, while his opponent who only a few months before used to win 30000 dollars for a match, won 10 millions dollars. Probably the most controversial match of his career was that against Floyd Mayweather Jr., held on 5th May at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Mayweather Jr. won on points, but the decision was doubtful because even Mayweather Sr. said he “felt” his son lost. De La Hoya got 25 million dollars for this game and Mayweather Jr. got 10 millions. Proud of his origins, Golden Boy holds his press conferences in Spanish and he was a producer of a TV show about boxing, Boxeo de Oro, broadcasted (in Spanish) by the HBO. De La Hoya flirted with music as well, his record, Oscar De La Hoya, produced by EMI, getting in 2001 a nominee at the Grammies at the Best Latin Pop Album.

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
Date and place of birth : 21 march 1980, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Sports fortune: $31 million
The footballer talent of Ronaldinho was for the first time brought in the attention of the media after a local game: his team had won 23-0 and Ronaldinho had scored all the goals. The young footballer had been remarked in 1997 in Egypt, at the world championship for men under 17. despite these results, Ronaldinho didn’t have an easy life at Gremio, the first club he played for as a professional. The coach would only put him on court at the audience’s pressure.

At Gremio Roberto, Ronaldinho’s brother also played. The club offered Roberto a house to convince him not to leave to Europe – Juventus Torino was interested in buying him. Roberto stayed and the entire Moreira family moved in the new house. The irony was that the boys’ father died after a heart attack he had in the pool of their house. After some injuries, Roberto had to give up his footballer career, being now his brother’s manager. In 2001 some English clubs manifested heir wish to have Ronaldinho in their teams, but this was impossible because the player couldn’t get the right to work in England.

Gremio offered him 10000 dollars per week to make him stay. Today, the cancellation clause of Ronaldinho’s contract with Barcelona is 125 millions euros. The first European club he played for was Paris Saint Germain. Ronaldinho proved what he could do at the 2002 World Championship and in 2003 he said that he wanted to leave PSG. Again the Englishmen were the first who reacted – Manchester United auctioned but couldn’t get to an agreement with PSG, but FC Barcelona managed this for £ 21 millions.

In 2004 he was designated The Footballer of the year and Chelsea made him an offer – which was refused – of £60 millions. In 2005 Barcelona offered him a £80 million pounds contract valid until 2014 which the player turned down. He signed a contract which allows him to leave from Barcelona if a club pays for £85 million. 2006 was the glory year for Ronaldinho at Barcelona, after the team won Champions League against the Arsenal and he was designated the Player of the year.

Instead, the Brazilians were disappointed with the performance of their national team at the World Cup and they pulled down a 7, 5 meters high statue of Ronaldinho from Chapeco. He is married to Nattiele Viana Mendes, a former dancer for the Brazilian television and they have a son, born on 25th February 2005.