What can you trust in this world if you can’t even trust eBay? British sprinter James Ellington recently came up with a brilliant idea to raise money for a shot at the upcoming Olympics. He auctioned himself off, offering to wear the highest bidder’s brand when he ran. When someone offered to pay 32,000 Euros — 2,500 Euros more than his reserve price — it appeared Ellington’s plan had worked to perfection. Not exactly.
The bidder never came forward. The auction closed on Dec. 17 and representatives from eBay have not been able to get a hold of the person, who obviously was pulling some sort of prank.
“There seem to be a few sad people out there,” Ellington said according to The Telegraph. “For me personally, I wouldn’t be missing about with someone’s career but there are certain people out there who like to mess things up.”
The people at eBay have been trying to contact some of the next-highest bidders but have not been having any luck. At this point it is unclear whether any of the bidders were actually serious about sponsoring Ellington.
“Throughout my life I’ve had so many let-downs that I never count my chickens before they hatch,” he explained. “I was just optimistic and thought to myself, ‘If I get the money then I get the money. If I don’t, I won’t even focus on it.’ I’m just trying to get on with things and focus on my training. If you get too engrossed in everything it can just eat you up, so I’m just trying to keep my head down, keep training and focus on my goal. Hopefully, something will come through and I’ll get some sponsorship.”
Perhaps the unfortunate story will help Ellington gain some publicity and inspire a sponsor to come forward. The fact that someone would place a fake bid on something like this reminds us that there are plenty of selfish morons in the world.
