Sprinter James Ellington has resorted to putting himself up for auction on eBay to attract sponsors.
British sprinter resorts to eBay to try and drum up some sponsorship
Olympic hopeful James Ellington believes he can be a real asset to Team GB for London 2012 despite his lack of sponsorship, which has led to him putting himself up for auction on eBay.
The 26-year-old 200m runner was a star junior in the sprinting ranks but his senior career has been blighted by four years of injury, which saw him on the sidelines when the rush to sign up Olympic athletes took place amongst major sponsors.
Ellington currently works part-time coaching children whilst also training to take part in the Olympics, although he does receive some minor funding for being part of the relay squad.
Despite enjoying his best ever season and clocking the second fastest 200m time by a British runner, Ellington had no response to his calls for sponsorship, so has now put himself up for auction on eBay for £30,000.
"Basically I'm trying to get sponsorship to train full-time for next year's Olympics," Ellington told
Sky Sports News Radio. "I've tried the traditional way of sending out emails and letters with no response so I had to try something different to get my name out there to gain the interest and so far it's looking pretty good so fingers crossed.
Reserve price
"The reserve price is £30,000 which sounds a lot but when you break it down, into two halves, 15 grand is a wage which would be below minimum wage and the other half would be towards expenses - for hotels, travel and nutrition - it's really to enable me to train full time, there's no party money there.
"At the moment I'm working part time, I coach under-privileged kids athletics - I'm funded by UK athletics which is a small amount, but it's not enough to enable me to train full time hence the eBay thing.
"It's like any other endorsement deal, the company go online and bid on me, and if they win they get a part of me, in return I'd promote their company, wear their kit if they're a branded sponsor and basically plug them anywhere I could, radio, TV, after races."
Ellington says his injury problems prevented him from getting a sponsor at the right time and, having missed that boat, he had to find another way to get his name out there.
"I was a real successful junior but after I broke into the senior ranks I was struck down by quite a few serious injuries, last year I came out running as well as I'd ever done before, but I tore my hamstring again which was very frustrating.
"That was the time sponsors were jumping on athletes to tie up deals ahead of the Olympics. I was injured so there was no interest in me but this year I've done well, I made the World Championships off my own back and I'm just looking for the sponsors now.
"Right now I'm probably three months ahead of schedule, I'm looking at the training sessions I did this time last year and I'm smashing them to bits and I know what I ran this year, so next year should be really special."
Confident
Ellington is confident in his ability and believes he could have a big impact on London 2012 if he could find a way to be able to train full-time.
"I've cut out all the distractions, if I'm not training I'm coaching, if I'm not coaching I'm relaxing and that's all I do at the moment, so hopefully if I get the sponsors I'll be able to just train and relax.
"I'm very confident of a medal when it comes to the relay as we've got a strong team. Individually I don't know where my potential is, I know what I've done without the help, and that's quite a lot, so with the help I think next year I could be a real strong force for Team GB.
"If I don't get it I'll just trudge on, obviously it'll be a struggle but I've got to keep going, with 2012 next year I've got no option to quit, I've got to keep it going all the way.
"I'm an everyday guy. Apart from training really hard, I work, I represent Team GB but I still work - all the glitz and glamour, I haven't got any of that yet!
"It's a massive opportunity and any athlete who takes part in London 2012 should be really privileged. Taking part in front of your home crowd is a once in a lifetime opportunity, it's going to be the biggest this this country's seen ever."
