BEN Ainslie is looking forward to the opportunity to make history at the Olympic sailing regatta as he begins his quest for a third consecutive gold medal in Qingdao tomorrow.
A silver medallist at the Laser event in Atlanta in 1996, Ainslie captured gold in the same event in Sydney before winning the Finn event at Athens four years ago to match Rodney Pattison's record as Britain's most successful Olympic sailor. Havin
g continued to dominate the Finn class with victories at the Olympic test events in Qingdao in 2006 and 2007 as well as capturing a fifth world championship early this year, the 31-year-old is heavily favoured to surpass Pattison's mark.
But while expectations weigh heavily on the Macclesfield native's shoulders, he remains unfazed by the pressure of being billed as one of Britain's brightest medal hopes in China.
"I think in my situation, most of the pressure actually come from my expectations and desire to do well," he said. "I can't really do anything about what other people think.We've been preparing for a long time for this event so it will be good to finally get on with the racing."
With the Finn and Yngling races being the first on the schedule for the regatta, Ainslie knows that it will be an opportunity for the Team GB sailing team to get its medal count up early. "I suppose so and we've also got a very good chance in the Yngling class with Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson. It would be good if we could do well in both of those classes and help the morale of the rest of the team. I think we've got the best team on paper that we ever had."
The full article contains 298 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
