Olympian makes waves with Collyer

Now this is the kind of sponsorship that sends out all the right messages.

London firm Collyer-Bristow has put its weight behind Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie in his bid to win gold in Athens 2004.

Mr Ainslie already has a silver from Atlanta and gold from Sydney in the Laser class, and moved last year to the Finn class of single-handed dinghies, winning the European and world championships at the first attempt.

Not surprisingly, he was named the International Sailing Federation's 2002 world sailor of the year.

Collyer-Bristow has a sports and sponsorship team and chief executive Jonathan Fox explained that this sponsorship was a natural progression for the firm.

'Ben is already a winner, and is striving to achieve yet more, and as a firm we hope we can reflect it,' he said, just in case we didn't get the point.

The firm's logo will appear on Mr Ainslie's clothing as well as his boat, and he will also make appearances at the firm's events.

There could have been worse law firms for Mr Ainslie to plug - such as Waterfall in Bournemouth and Silvers in London.