Skylet Andrew (born 31 March 1962), often known as Sky Andrew, is an English former Olympian who won three gold medals at the 1989 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships and was the first

Black British Black British people or Black Britons"Black Briton, N." ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford UP. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1136579918. are a multi-ethnic group of British people of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Sub-Saharan ...

sports agent A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent (law), agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and Testimonial, endorsement contracts for the principal (commercial law), at ...

Biography

Andrew was born in Upton Park,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, to a London Transport bus driver father, and a mother who worked in an East End pie factory.

Table tennis

He represented Great Britain at the

1988 Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were repres ...

in the doubles event with Des Douglas and won 3 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship gold medals in 1989 . Andrew retired from competitive table tennis after the 1994 European Championships.

Sports agent

While training at

Lilleshall Hall Lilleshall Hall is a large former country house and estate in the fields of Lilleshall, Shropshire, England. It is run by Serco Leisure Operating Ltd on behalf of Sport England as one of three National Sports Centres, alongside Bisham Abbey ...

in his youth, Andrew met young footballer

Sol Campbell Sulzeer Jeremiah "Sol" Campbell (born 18 September 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player. Widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs of his generation, he spent 20 years playing in the Premier League and had a ...

, with whom he struck up a friendship. After retiring from

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

, Andrew wanted to get into

show business Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2nd Ed. (1989) From the business side (including managers, agents, produce ...

, but ended up becoming an agent, representing acting clients including Martine McCutcheon. In the mid-1990s at Campbell's suggestion, he became the first licensed

football agent, engineering Campbell's move from

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Andrew has since represented Jermaine Pennant,

David Ginola David Ginola-Ceze (born 25 January 1967) is a French former professional footballer. A television personality, he has also worked as an actor, model and football pundit. A forward, Ginola played for ten seasons in France with Toulon, Racing Par ...

Frank Bruno Franklin Roy Bruno (born 16 November 1961) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1996. He held the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title from 1995 to 1996. At regional level, he held the European heavyweight ...

, Jay Bothroyd and Jermain Defoe. His TV and film clients include

Nathalie Emmanuel Nathalie Joanne Emmanuel (born 2 March 1989) is a British actress. Emmanuel began her acting career appearing in theatre in the late 1990s, acquiring roles in various West End theatre, West End productions such as the Musical theatre, musical ' ...

, Sarah-Jane Mee, and Natalie Sawyer. In September 2016, in a deal with football agency Platinum One Group, Sky Andrew moved his football business across. Currently he is also a "Soccer Agent" instructor for the online sports-career training school Sports Management Worldwide.

Honors

Andrew won a

Barclays Bank Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

"Man of Merit Award" in 2002, and was named the BEA Entrepreneur of The Year in 2003.

References

External links

Personal websiteSkylet Andrew
at the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA; ) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but also incorporate represen ...