FOUR-TIME Olympic sailor Peter Bromby has just secured sponsorship from three companies in his final push to qualify for his fifth Olympics — the 2008 Games in Beijing.Bromby said that this sponsorship “is a welcome shot in the arm” and will make things go far more smoothly in the lead-up to the 2008 Worlds being staged in Miami where he is confident of qualifying for the Beijing Games.

In the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics, Bromby said he had been competing in regattas and training “on a shoestring”.

Now he has the backing of Validus Re, Arch Capital Group Ltd. and BlackRock.

He said yesterday: “So far so we have had to be very selective of what regattas we go to — we have had to be very selective about what equipment to get and not use as many sails as we would want to use — things like that. We could have used more equipment at this year’s World Championships in Portugal and this money will allow us to buy more equipment and get to more regattas and get more exposure and better our product — the more regattas we get to and the more exposure we get the better our chances of qualifying. And it is not just travelling to regattas that the new sponsorship money will be very useful for.“We will not only go to events but we will also go to training camps which we will arrange around regattas,” he said.

For a lot of that training, Bromby plans to use Miami as the base. “We would use Miami because from the financial point of view we get good value there. We can spend a week training and then finish it off with a weekend regatta against some very decent competition.”

Miami also makes sense because “it is where the next World Championships are”. And Bromby has also in the past won a number of world-class events in Miami — it is one of his favourite hunting grounds.

“We also be doing a number of events in Europe as well,” he said adding that one of the very first events he wants to get to will be in a couple of weeks — in China at the site of the 2008 Olympics.

“We hope to get to China real soon for a pre-Olympic regatta which starts on August 14. Right now we are just waiting on our visas (to get back).

“With this money coming forward we can all of a sudden get to China whereas we could not have before. We spent everything we had to get to the World Championships in Portugal. We had not even planned of going to China — we had hoped to but without the money we could not have done so. Now we can. Of course this is all subject to getting our visas in time. Our passports are away right now.”

Bromby, who like many Olympic sailors competes at a pre-Olympic regatta, said he will charter a Star boat when in China.

“It probably will not be the best boat in the world but we will not be there to measure our speed — we will be there to measure the place both on the land and on the water.

“You can imagine the logistical hurdles that will be thrown in our way if we went to the Olympics cold — just showed up. We have not been to China before and many of the teams have been. We want to find out what a typical day is like as terms of logistics.

“From what we know from talking to people who have been there is that it can be very light wind. Last year when they staged a pre-Olympic event they had very little wind but the week before they they had pretty nice sailing conditions with moderate winds — about 12 knots — which is our favourite strength.”

Having financial resources behind him makes Bromby feel more confident about his chances.

“The sponsorship is exciting for us and it represents a welcome shot in the arm for us. It is nice to have the financial resources behind us. We can do so many other things and prepare properly. Most of the top teams around the world are sponsored by their Governments or their federations work on their behalf finding sponsors for them.

“It is great when you get companies like these three that want to back you — it says something when they put their confidence in you and I think our performances in the past have been deserving of that help.

“Up until now we have been using the money we make from the annual Christmas tree sales and we also have a bit of funding from the Bermuda Olympic Association’s Elite Athletes Fund. And then there is some financial help from the International Olympic Committee’s Solidarity Fund. That is another shot in the arm as well because you couldn’t just take any team out of Bermuda and put them forward for that Solidarity Fund. You have to be of a certain calibre before they will even consider you for that. I think it tells you what the world thinks about your performance, not just here in Bermuda.

At the Worlds last month 11 Olympic spots were handed out and four more will be granted at next year’s Worlds in Miami.

Bromby said after those Worlds in Portugal: “We are not that concerned actually. If you look closely at the results you would have seen that we were the 15th country (at this year’s Worlds) and if they had selected all 15 spots for Beijing we would have had one. It was not that alarming.”

Bromby first competed in the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992 and then sailed in the 1996 Games in Atlanta and the 2000 Games in Sydney where he finished just outside of the medals in fourth place. He then competed in Athens in 2004.