Ben Ainslie

His career in sailing began at the age of eight with his family in Restronguet, Cornwall. Ainslie’s father Roddy was a proficient sailor who had skippered ‘Second Life’ in the first Whitbread Round the World Race of 1973-74. What started as a hobby quickly turned into a way of life, and by the age of 16 Ainslie was already Laser Radial World Champion

At the age of 19 Ainslie became the youngest British Olympic sailing medallist when he made his Olympic debut in the Laser class at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. He enjoyed a tremendous tussle with Robert Scheidt of Brazil and needed to finish two places ahead of his rival in the final race of the series to take gold. Both men were disqualified after difficulties at the start which meant the positions remained unchanged and Ainslie had to settle for silver.

By the time he arrived at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games he had already won the Laser World Championship in 1998 and 1999. Once again he was in for a great battle with Scheidt and this time it was Ainslie who came out on top to reverse the result by a similar margin.

After he took part in the One World Challenge for the Americas Cup he resumed his Olympic challenge in a different class, the Finn. It was a demanding change as he had to add 15 kilos to his body weight, but in 2002 he took gold in his new class at the World Championships, a title he defended in 2003 and 2004.

At the Athens 2004 Olympic Games he was disqualified in two races but that lit the touchpaper and he won three of the next four races in the series. With good performances in the remainder of the series the Olympic gold medal was his.

The following year he completed a hat-trick of wins in the Finn World Championships. He went to China in 2006 and dominated the Finn class and ended with nine wins in 11 races, before joining the New Zealand Americas Cup yacht for training towards the end of the year.

Ainslie has won eight World and European Championships in his sailing career to date, been crowned ISAF World Sailor of the Year in 1998 and 2002, and four times won British Yachtsman of the Year.

Ainslie’s focus for the future is to combine both competing in the America’s Cup – he has been named as skipper for the British ‘TeamOrigin’ challenge – with the quest for more Olympic medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

To read more please visit: http://www.benainslie.com/

Last Updated August 2009