British Olympic hopeful James Ellington secures sponsorship from King of Shaves after hoax Ebay bid
Last updated 1/20/2012 10:27:00 AM
London 2012 Olympic hopeful James Ellington secures sponsorship from King of Shaves after hoax Ebay bid
British shaving brand, King of Shaves has come to the rescue of James Ellington, a British Olympic hopeful who was forced to seek a sponsorship deal via eBay - and then targeted by a hoaxer.
James' plight for a sponsor began in December, having missed out previously on funding opportunities due to injury which had also jeopardised his Olympic dreams.
Having offered himself for sponsorship via an online eBay auction, King of Shaves founder and CEO Will King tweeted James directly, telling him to get in touch should the deal fall-through. James later discovered that his top eBay bidder wasn't genuine and as a result King of Shaves secured the primary sponsorship of this top athlete.
"Going on eBay gave me amazing exposure but unfortunately the winning bidder wasn't genuine," James said. "I couldn't be happier that the deal has been sorted – and with a brand I really like. Now I can focus on winning a medal for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics." He jokingly added: "Thankfully Will King and King of Shaves stepped in and ‘shaved' my life.I personally want to thank all of the people who emailed, tweeted and wrote to me. I've been so touched by all of your messages of support and even donations to my cause. Whatever I manage to achieve at London 2012, I'm doing it for you."
Will King explained: "We backed Kristan Bromley and Shelley Rudman in the 2006 Winter Olympics at Torino in Bob Skeleton when they were in dire need of funding; Shelley famously slid to a superb Silver. So when I heard James was struggling to raise funds and go for Gold, I was delighted to get King of Shaves involved as part of our forthcoming ‘Wingman' Project – supporting people and businesses with winning potential."
This sponsorship deal and others to be announced over the coming months, builds on King of Shaves' Young Blades athletes initiative that ran between 2004 and 2010. In 2007, King of Shaves sponsored James Sheppard in Powerboat P1, he went on to become World Champion in that year. In 2010 the company also supported Jon Beeby who walked across the USA in 80 days to raise funds for charity.