London 2012 Olympics: British sailor who has pushed the boat out for true greatness

Published on 06/08/2012 03:55

THE queue of sportsmen and women invited to Buckingham Palace in the new year could stretch halfway down The Mall the way London 2012 is going.

One thing, however, is certain. It has to include Ben Ainslie. Or put another way: the greatest sailor in Olympic history. That is where Ainslie resides after winning a fourth successive gold medal after what he described as “the toughest week of my life”.

The 35-year-old is up there with Sir Matthew Pinsent, who won four golds in rowing at successive Games, and Bradley Wiggins, whose gold in the cycling time trial last Wednesday, also took his gold tally to four.

It should be remembered, however, that Ainslie began his Olympic adventure in Atlanta in 1996, where he won silver in the Laser class.

That is five Olympics of success, just like Sir Steven Redgrave – a spectacular test of longevity which elevates Ainslie on to the highest sporting plain.

Once more he did it in spectacular fashion, lying second going into the medal race at Weymouth which effectively meant he had to beat the leader, Denmark’s Jonas Hogh-Christensen, and keep an eye on Pieter-Jan Postma from Holland to take the gold. He did exactly that and that is the talent of Ainslie. He does whatever it takes to win, usually without fuss, often ruthlessly.

What makes him the greatest? That requires the eye of a professional, and Shirley Robertson, who won gold in Sydney and Athens, has studied him at closer quarters than most.

“I’ve sailed with him and he has a great feel for a boat,” Robertson has said. “Whatever sport Ben would have picked he would have been a champion. Mentally he’s got tremendous drive and professionalism. In sailing he has a sixth sense. He always knows when the wind is going to change direction.

“He can get into any boat and quickly steer it really fast. In the Finn class he is unbeatable. A phenomenal talent like we have never seen. The best sailor in the world.”

It helped, of course, that he started sailing at the age of four and is the son of Roderick (Roddy) Ainslie, who captained a boat in the first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973.

Sailing is in the Ainslie blood. So is winning.

Determined. Focused. Ambitious. Those are the three words he chooses to describe himself and the qualities which see him change from the most charming of gentlemen on dry land to something of a beast on the water.

His career has been laced with controversy, most dramatically when he blocked Brazilian rival Robert Scheidt at the back of the fleet at Sydney 2000 in the final sail-off when his only chance of winning gold was to stop Scheidt from finishing better than 20th of the 45 starters.

He succeeded, surviving the inevitable protests, after which he received death threats while Scheidt’s supporters in Sao Paulo burned effigies of him.

There were no such controversies in Weymouth, although Ainslie did try to disrupt Hogh-Christensen’s start in the medal race. When it did not work, Ainslie simply went to Plan B, tacking down different sides of the race course, searching for wind, seizing an advantage, keeping ahead of the Dane until he took the lead in the overall event for the first time, at just the right time.

Once more gold was Ainslie’s. What now? Back almost certainly to the long-cherished dream to win the America’s Cup. First, surely he has an appointment at the palace.