In a radical departure from the typical practice of using young celebrity sports stars, Adidas has signed up a 92 year old Sikh man as part of it's 'Impossible is Nothing' advertising campaign in the UK. Fauja Singh, who lives in Ilford, is the marathon runner who will soon be adorning billboard posters around the UK, the oldest person Adidas has ever used in an advertising campaign.

The deal is likely to propel Fauja Singh into the sports stardom as he shares the limelight alongside David Beckham, Jonny Wilkinson and Laila Ali (daughter of Mohammad Ali). And all this for a man who only started 11 years ago.

Fauja Singh admits that he only started taking running seriously at the age of 81 when he moved to London from India. Prior to that he lived on a family farm in Punjab where he regularly jogged "to get from one place to the next". After his wife’s death he moved to England to live with his son and took up jogging to spend his time.

Initially he took part in short-distance races of five or ten kilometres. But four years ago he took part in the Flora London Marathon at the age of 89 and took 6hrs, 54 minutes to reach the finish. The following year he completed it in the same time to set a world record for 90-year-olds.

"Mr Singh is the oldest person we have ever used in an ad campaign," says Mark Sinclair, of Adidas UK told The Times. "The usual approach is to talk about inspirational stories in sports that we are associated with through sponsorship, which is generally younger people at the top of their sport. In this case, the story of a 92-year-old running marathons is inspirational and exceptional, and he embodies the ‘impossible is nothing’ mantra of our campaign perfectly."

While the London Marathon this year is his immediate focus, he says his ultimate goal is "to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest ever to run the distance". That means competing until he's at least 98.

Adidas hopes the ad campaign will appeal to older health concious people who are worried about their health in growing numbers. Fauja Singh will meanwhile set a great example atleast to his four children, thirteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.