Despite having the most successful season of his career after four years of injury, and holding the second fastest time in the 200m for a Brit, Ellington, of Lewisham, south London, failed to find a sponsor to support his Olympic dream. 



The 26-year old did not get a single reply to any of the thousands of sponsorship applications he sent out and is using eBay to help get him to the next level.

Ellington currently gets funding from the UK Athletics World Class programme for being part of the British relay squad but has to support himself with part-time coaching jobs. 



Training full time is the next step he says he needs to take if he is going to compete internationally in the next season, which kicks off in the spring, and have any chances of getting near the podium at Olympics in the individual 100m and 200m.



He is asking for a minimum of £30,000, half of which will support him, the other half to fund his training, travel, accommodation, kit and nutrition. He would wear the name of his sponsor on his kit when competing and at all media events. 



“Nobody has done that before so I thought it would be a quirky way of getting a sponsor,” he said.



“Getting a sponsor would mean everything to me and allow me to compete on a level playing field with my rivals. 



“I’m pretty confident – I got myself to the World Championships by hard graft. My dream is to win a medal.”