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Who says sport and politics don't mix? When George Bush Jr ducked under an airborne Iraqi boat-shoe this week, he displayed an impressive athleticism. But sporting heroes have long had a tendency towards a political path. Winston Aldworth looks at some of the most athletic MPs, presidents and
heads of state
1: Kim Jong Il
When it comes to political leaders with sporting ability, the buck stops with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Our knowledge of Kim's sporting achievements is limited to what we learn from the North Korean press, so it's possible that the facts are inflated to make the Dear Leader look greater. Even so, SuperSport must doff its cap to the greatest round of golf ever played.
The first time Kim played, he went around the par-72 Pyongyang Golf Club course in 34 strokes. Yup, 38 under par!
Without so much as a beginner's lesson or a warm-up trip to the driving range, Kim nailed the first hole (a tricky 340m, dog-leg par four) in two shots. And there was more to come, the Dear Leader finishing with a world record five holes in one!
As the club's resident professional, Park Young Man, who played the round with Kim and 17 armed bodyguards, says: "He is an excellent golfer."
Wrong, pal. Danny Lee is an "excellent golfer". Greg Norman is an "excellent golfer". Kim Jong Il is the greatest golfer ever born.
Sadly, he's never touched a club since.
2: Che Guevara
A favourite on undergraduates' T-shirts, Che was a rugby hero long before donning revolutionary garb. A chronic asthmatic and nippy second five-eighth, Guevara edited a rugby magazine called Tackle while at medical school and always wore head gear while he played. The scrum cap earned him derision from teammates and opposition alike, but he knew his matinee idol good looks had a value beyond the tryline.
Going into last year's World Cup quarter-final against Scotland, Argentina's captain, Agustin Pichot, who was born in the same Buenos Aires suburb as Guevara, said: "I see a direct link between his love of rugby and our love of rugby and his desire to see change and our desire to see change."
3: The 1967 All Blacks
For a nation obsessed with rugby, it's somewhat surprising how few of our beloved black-clad heroes have found themselves in Parliament after the try-scoring moves have dried up. So the 1967 squad that toured Britain was something of a rarity. Three of the players went on to careers in Parliament: Grahame Thorne (10 tests, one try; National, Onehunga 1990-93), Tony Steel (nine tests, seven tries; National, Hamilton East 1990-93, 1996-2002), Chris Laidlaw (20 tests, three tries; Labour, Wellington Central 1992-93).
It makes you wonder how many of this year's Grand Slam All Blacks will go on to parliamentary careers.
Laidlaw, of course, popped up as a High Commissioner in Zimbabwe and Thorne is a career politician with lengthy appearances at council level.
For good measure the 1967 tourists also included Arthur Jennings, the first Fijian All Black. he didn't play in any tests, but he did stand for election to the Fijian parliament.
4: Fidel Castro
The Cuban Revolution might never have happened if not for two baseball scouts for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
They travelled to Havana to check out a 21-year-old pitching prospect called Fidel Castro.
They liked the amount of movement he could put on the ball, but were unimpressed by his speed.
"The kid Castro has some command of breaking pitches (stop)" they telegraphed home.
"Has nothing on the fast ball (stop) Double AA talent at best (stop)."
Cue a career as a law student, political prisoner, revolutionary and flamboyant smoker of cigars.
5: Barack Obama
George Bush's athletic feats came to the fore in Iraq this week, but Barack Obama proved his chops in the buildup to the election.
In an audicious bit of proving-his-blokiness, US President-elect Obama (back then just humble Senator Obama) landed a three-pointer in front of hundreds of cheering troops in Kuwait. He has since gone on to assemble what he calls "the best basketball-playing Cabinet in American history".
Chicago schools superintendent Arne Duncan, who is 1.95m tall, is nominated as Education Secretary and played professionally in Australia, and the man tipped to be National Security Adviser, General James Jones, is 1.93m and played forward at Georgetown University.
In tribute to the President-elect, Spalding, the Harlem Globetrotters' official supplier, has created a red, white and blue basketball.
6: Idi Amin
Clocking in at 114kg and measuring 193cm in height, Idi Amin was an imposing figure and an aggressive pugilist. And if his bulk wasn't enough to put you off the prospect of going a few rounds, the rumours that he ate people might have clinched your decision.
Still, in the days before he became head of the army, head of the country and, ultimately CBE (Conqueror of the British Empire - a self-conferred title), Amin bagged himself the Ugandan light heavyweight boxing title and held it from 1951 to 1960. He was also a handy rugby player.
He called himself "Big Daddy", but others preferred the less snappy but more accurate moniker "Butcher of Uganda". And through his years in politics, the pugilistic streak remained. While few in his homeland were brave enough to speak out, neighbouring president President Julius Nyerere, of Tanzania, did criticise the way Uganda was being run. Naturally, Amin challenged him to a boxing match.
7: Zara Phillips
A dab hand on horseback, Zara Phillips makes our list because she is 12th in line to be head of state of New Zealand - a fact sure to give her no end of joy.
Phillips has, reportedly, shown interest in New Zealand affairs, dating sometime All Black utility Caleb Ralph, though today she is shacked up with England's midfield trundler Mike Tindall.
Her naming as the 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year confirmed the long-held suspicion that the award was reserved for Pommy athletes with the least personality.
8: Jesse Ventura
Anyone who says big-time pro-wrestling has no connection to genuine sport and thus warrants no place on a list such as this ought to bear in mind that being Governor of Minnesota has no connection to reality.
Enter Jesse "the Body" Ventura, former WWF scraper and big man of Minnesota. The buffed commentator missed his chance to give Hulk Hogan the bash and take the WWF title late in his wrestling career, blaming a nasty lung infection on Agent Orange.
After a lengthy spell ringside as a commentator, Ventura trod the path of many a muscled lunk and appeared in the Arnie action flick Predator.
In 1998 he became Governor but didn't stand for re-election in 2002, blaming press intrusion on his private life. Ventura's motto as a wrestler - "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!" - would make him ideal for the role of Governor of Illinois.
9: Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Austrian Oak has had three careers marked by quite astonishing success: bodybuilding, acting and politics. At present the 38th Governor of California and a surprisingly liberal Republican, Arnold was seven-times Mr Olympia (1970-1975, 1980) and a fond user of anabolic steroids. They were legal when he dabbled and understandably "helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict diet in preparation for a contest". How nice.
In Pumping Iron the great man describes the thrill of working out: "I get the blood going through my veins... and it's like I'm cumming. I work out six hours...day... and it's like I'm cumming and cumming and cumming six hours a day. I can't think of another thing that I'd be doing where I get this sensation."
Er, we can think of something.
10: Imran Khan
We tend to sing the praises of Richard Hadlee on these shores, and rightly so. But Paddles' contemporary on the hectic allrounders scene in the 1980s, Imran Khan, has been as prolific on the political stage as he was in pursuit of the fabled allrounders' treble (300 test wickets and 3000 test runs).
While playing county cricket in England during the 1970s and 1980s, Khan was a familiar face at London nightclubs such as Annabel's and Tramp, though he never drank alcohol. A good-looking rogue, he was famed for charming a succession of aristocratic young belles. Years later he said of this time: "I am a humble sinner."
Seriousness came to him late in life. After leading Pakistan to victory in the 1992 one-day World Cup, Khan founded and became the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
He's since been elected as an MP, charged by police with spreading hatred and inciting violence and engaged in a prison hunger strike. More recently he demanded the death sentence for President Pervez Musharraf.
Beat that, Paddles.
In Parliament he sided with liberals and hardline Muslims on different issues. The Khan ideology in a nutshell: "I want Pakistan to be a welfare state and a genuine democracy with a rule of law and an independent judiciary."