Ben Ainslie

Ben Ainslie
Ben Ainslie, 2014
Nickname:	Beano, King Ben
Nationality:	United Kingdom
Birthday:	5th February 1977
Place of birth:	Macclesfield , UK
Size:	1.83 cm
Weight:	90 kg
Society:	Restronguet Sailing Club Royal Lymington Yacht Club Royal Yacht Squadron
Boat classes:	Lasers , Finn dinghy
Medal table
Olympic games 4 × 1 × 0 × World championships 7 × 0 × 3 ×
Olympic games gold Sydney 2000 laser gold Athens 2004 Finn dinghy gold Beijing 2008 Finn dinghy gold London 2012 Finn dinghy silver Atlanta 1996 laser World championships gold Melbourne 1999 laser gold Athens 2002 Finn dinghy gold Cadiz 2003 Finn dinghy gold Rio de Janeiro 2004 Finn dinghy gold Moscow 2005 Finn dinghy gold Melbourne 2008 Finn dinghy gold Falmouth 2012 Finn dinghy bronze Simon's Town 1996 laser bronze Algarrobo 1997 laser bronze Cancun 2000 laser

Sir Charles Benedict "Ben" Ainslie , CBE (born February 5, 1977 in Macclesfield ), called King Ben is an English sailor who has won five Olympic medals since 1996.

Life

Ben Ainslie's father Roderick took part in the first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973 . Ben started sailing in Cornwall at the age of eight, took part in youth world championships for the first time at the age of twelve, and was world champion with the Laser Radial at the age of 16 . In 1995 he became youth world champion with the standard laser. In 1996 he won bronze in the adult age group at the World Cup. At the 1996 Olympic regatta , he fought a duel with the Brazilian world champion Robert Scheidt , to whom he was just defeated , in a laser . On the last day of the regatta, Ainslie needed two places better than Scheidt to win gold, but both were disqualified at the start.

1997 Ben Ainslie was again third at the world championship, in 1999 before Melbourne Ainslie could then defeat Scheidt and became world champion for the first time. Ainslie was dominant in Europe, becoming European champions in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. In 2000 Scheidt won the title back at the world championship, Ainslie again came third. Before Sydney at the Olympic Regatta 2000 Ainslie was able to defeat Scheidt again, Ainslie won his first Olympic gold medal.

Then Ainslie switched to the also Olympic Finn dinghy class and gained 15 kilograms for the larger boat. In 2002 he became world champion with the Finn for the first time, from 2003 to 2005 he was able to repeat this success. In between, he also won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic regatta off Piraeus.

Ben Ainslie worked as a tactical advisor at the America's Cup for the New Zealand team, and in 2009 he is to lead the British boat as skipper.

At the 2008 Olympic sailing competitions in Qingdao , he won his third gold medal, making him the most successful sailor from the United Kingdom. In 2012 he won - again in the Finn dinghy class - the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in London for the fourth time in a row.

With his victory, Ben Ainslie set the record for the Dane Paul Elvstrøm , who was Olympic champion four times in a row (1948–1960). Ainslie also won four times in a row (2000-2012), in 1996 he also won silver. With this fifth medal in total, he drew level with the two Brazilians Robert Scheidt and Torben Grael .

Honors

medal

• Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) 2001
• Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) 2005
• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 2009
• Knight Bachelor 2013

Nominations

• British Yachtsman of the Year 1995, 1999, 2000, 2002
• International Sailing Federation World Sailor of the Year 1998, 2002, 2008

Web links

Commons : Ben Ainslie  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage: Ben Ainslie (English)
• Sports-Reference / Olympic Sports: Ben Ainslie , (English)
• Biography at the British Olympic team (English)
• World championships in laser

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ben Ainslie OBE, Biography . British Olympic Association. 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2008.