British sailing champion changes course

Sir Ben Ainslie tells Kathimerini English Edition about decision to switch from Olympics to America’s Cup and love of racing in the Aegean

Sailing in the Olympics will not be the same after the withdrawal of a living legend in the sport, Sir Ben Ainslie, the Briton who managed to bag four Olympic golds and a silver over the course of his illustrious career.

The 36-year-old spoke to Kathimerini about his decision, his America’s Cup ambitions and his affection for Greece, stating his love for the country’s seas and expressing a desire to compete here again one day. not to be and I had to settle for silver. It was a great experience for me and ultimately not winning on that day gave me the hunger to come back and win gold next time.

I have always loved racing in Greece, in particular in the Saronic Gulf. On the water it is a real challenge between the light to medium sea breeze and then the intensity of the Meltemi and katabatic winds. I feel there is a real love for sailing in Greece and that resonates with the local sailors and the hospitality they have shown.

There are some extremely talented sailors in Greece, sailors like Papathanasiou, Mitakis, Nikos Kaklamanakis, Sofia Bekatorou and George Andreadis. These sailors and many more have had some fantastic results for Greek sailing in a range of classes. I imagine it must be really hard to find funding for any sport given the global financial crisis but there is certainly the talent there to be successful.

I have never heard of it, or really been suspicious of it. I think sailing is a very clean sport and would be extremely surprised and saddened to hear otherwise.

Without overusing a certain word we have all heard a huge amount over the last few years, ultimately it is all about legacy. It was amazing to see an event bond the country in a way we haven’t witnessed for many years. There was a true buzz of patriotism and a feeling that we were making history. Everyone involved in London 2012 should be hugely proud of what was achieved. The thousands of gamesmakers were fantastic ambassadors for Britain. The country came together over sport and I hope it has inspired a generation. Sport has an amazing ability to bond people of different backgrounds, classes and abilities and we have a unique opportunity to build on what was achieved. It is often the case that teams can actually lose momentum after hosting the Games, often posting a poorer result as a team. I hope that we can be the first Olympic team to actually achieve a better result in Rio in 2016.