How to become an athletics entrepreneur

It’s often said that those at the heart of the action need to promote themselves to promote the sport, but where do you start when it comes to building an off-track profile? Verity Ockenden goes in search of advice

The conversation in athletics frequently turns to how we as athletes should be promoting ourselves in order to promote the sport. Pundits cry out for competitors with character to draw in the crowds.

Amongst the elite ranks, we are expected to become the salespeople of our sport, to drive the business that it creates, but most of us arrived at this position through the single-minded pursuit of a beloved childhood hobby. We didn’t go to business school.

American Sprinter Kyra Jefferson recently summarised it perfectly via Modernathletes, defining track as “an amateur sport that just so happens to have professionals in it.” Even in the mythical land of the American dream, where the roads we pummel are said to be paved with gold, carving a viable career out of this struggling sport is a labour of love.

With this in mind, I picked the brains of two Olympians who have each found themselves engaged in diverse opportunities off the track to great effect.

More and more commonly, athletes are earning both extra recognition – and extra commission – on a different type of runway. The worlds of sport and fashion have intertwined, and agencies such as Forte Sports Management are taking advantage of that.

Founding directors Dale King-Clutterbuck and Danny Davis were inspired to diversify the careers of their athletes by creating an agency “that shines the spotlight on sportspeople and particularly on track and field”.

They have created opportunities using varied platforms that “expose athletes to brands and creatives that bring the athlete revenue but, more importantly, provide the visibility that makes them accessible to different markets”.

By putting the extra legwork in to create this type of portfolio, athletes are becoming increasingly sought after as models in fashion, beauty and in branded advertising campaigns that target a whole new audience.

Take Revée Walcott-Nolan, for example, whose partnership with Forte has led to many a glossy campaign for names such as Urban Outfitters, Sweaty Betty and Michael Kors. This particular method of funding her dreams works well for the Tokyo Olympian because her management and coaching teams have always remained “on the same page” in terms of scheduling work commitments around…