Athletics agent Simms set to expand his business

By Steven Downes

ONE of the world's top athletics agents, who manages the race programme of Usain Bolt, is about to expand his business to seek more commercial deals for his clients.

NEW VENTURE: Usain Bolt's race manager Ricky Simms is set to expand his business in a bid to cash in on athletics resurgent popularity (Mohammad Amin)

Ricky Simms, who runs the Pace Sports Management agency based in Teddington, south-west London, says that the approaching 2012 London Olympics and Bolt's lightning-fast victories at the Beijing Games, together with last year's world championships have helped revive companies' interest in being associated with track and field stars.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for British athletes," said Simms, whose clients also include Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu, triple jump world champion Phillips Idowu, Australian hurdler Jana Rawlinson and a phalanx of leading east African distance runners.

This week Simms oversaw one of his clients signing a deal to become an "ambassador" for an energy drink brand, details of which are to be announced later this month.

But Simms denied that his business expansion was anything to do with two of his clients, 2004 Olympic relay gold medallist Mark Lewis-Francis and European hurdles medal-winner Andy Turner, having been involved with the controversial Global Sponsorship Group, which is now subject to a fraud investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

It is believed that both Lewis-Francis and Turner had cancelled their contracts with Global Sponsorship Group after agreed payments failed to be made. GSG's company website was back online today, and still displays pictures and articles in which Turner and Lewis-Francis feature prominently.

It seems likely that Simms will in future be offering more commercial deals to the athletes he manages, both individually and possibly collectively.

"In the past, we have looked after an athlete's competition schedule and career and their shoe contracts, and been happy for them to work with other agencies to arrange TV appearances and other sponsorships," Simms said. "Now, we will try to offer them extra services."

From this month, Simms will be working with Tyler Sports Management to seek more commercial deals for his athletes.

"Any athlete only has a window of opportunity in their career of five to 10 years to maximise their earnings from the sport and we are keen to help them do that," he added.

"There's no doubt that the profile that Usain has brought to athletics since 2008, and with the Olympics being in London in 2012, is making companies more interested in getting involved with athletics."