@LandRoverBAR Peachy Ahoy: Ainslie: #GOAT? Is Sir Ainslie the Greatest Of All Time?
Is Sir Ainslie the Greatest Of All Time?
See Ben interviewed by Peachy May 8, 2017
on the Whom You Know You Tube Channel:
He’s the most successful Olympic sailor ever, an America’s Cup winner and one of Britain’s greatest sportsmen, but for Sir Ben Ainslie that’s not enough.
His goal is to take the America’s Cup back to the UK for the first time since the competition began off the Isle of Wight in 1851.
As team principal and skipper of Land Rover BAR, Ainslie, 40, has built a home-grown outfit with serious credentials after clinching the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series title last year.
America's Cup
As both regatta and overall series winners, @LandRoverBAR will be going home to the UK with plenty of hardware! #LVACWSFukuoka
Ainslie tasted America's Cup success with ORACLE TEAM USA in the remarkable fightback to beat Emirates Team New Zealand in San Francisco in 2013.
With the Americans falling behind dramatically at 4-1 down, Britain’s sailing hero was drafted into the unfamiliar role of Tactician. He describes it as the most pressure he has ever been under. But his golden touch helped ORACLE TEAM USA pull off the incredible to win 9-8.
Off the water Ainslie is a quiet, polite, affable individual. In a racing boat he reveals the characteristics not unlike those of a shark; ruthless, intimidating and hugely respected.
His dad Roddy, who competed in the first Whitbread-Round-the-World race in 1973-74, describes him as a "placid, ordinary bloke - until he has a tiller in his hands".
© Ricardo Pinto
Ainslie was born in land-locked Macclesfield in the north of England, before the family moved to Falmouth in Cornwall.
The eight-year-old Ainslie was given an old Optimist and sailing became his world. It was also his escape from the school bullies, whose taunting forged an inner steel.
Ainslie won the Laser Radial Worlds in 1993 and went to his first Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta. He finished second behind double world champion Robert Scheidt in the Laser, but the 19-year-old was devastated it wasn’t gold.
The pair traded world championships, but at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Ainslie was bent on revenge.
He trailed Scheidt going into the final race, but ruthlessly pinned the Brazilian to the back of the fleet. If Scheidt finished worse than 21st, gold would be Ainslie’s on countback.
The duel was intense, and Scheidt wriggled free to finish 22nd. Both lodged protests. After lengthy deliberation, gold went to Ainslie.
© Shaun Roster / Team Origin
He bulked up for the switch to the Finn, and was soon dominating. He triumphed at the 2004 Athens Olympics and added a third gold at Beijing in 2008.
After a record sixth Finn world title, Ainslie was hot favourite for London 2012, but it was no simple coronation.
Ainslie trailed throughout to Denmark’s Jonas Hogh-Christensen, but he produced another tactical masterstroke in the final race to end his Olympic career with a fourth straight gold. He was knighted later that year.
The focus switched to the America’s Cup, a journey that began with a short stint with the One World team in 2002 and was followed by a spell as back-up helmsman for Team New Zealand in 2005-2007.
Following the 2007 America’s Cup, Ainslie was named as skipper for a new British outfit, Team Origin. The syndicate was short-lived, but in 2012 he launched Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR).
Inspired by ORACLE TEAM USA's “escape from Alcatraz”, Ainslie plans to snatch some historic silverware in Bermuda to add to his golden collection at home.
