Ben's third in a row
Monday, 18 August 2008
QINGDAO, Aug 17 : Ben Ainslie of Britain won Finn class at the Olympic sailing regatta here Sunday, bagging his third straight Olympic gold and becoming the third sailor in Olympic history to have achieved such a feat.
The defending Finn champion wrapped up the gold with splendid performance on the waters of the Olympic sailing center by taking the lead of every mark.
On the first mark, he sailed a 12-second lead over France and the margin was narrowed by the second mark when Ainslie's advantage was just one second.
The third mark witnessed the world-beater Ainslie take the overall fleet with a 20-second lead and finish the medal race 13 seconds ahead of Denmark. He finally accomplished his hat-trick gold mission at Olympic sailing with 23 points overall.
"This feeling is truly amazing, and it's a massive relief. I could open the champagne right now and rightfully so," said Ainslie (31).
"The last downwind was a little scary. I kept telling myself, 'don't capsize, don't capsize'. All in all, this is my best last race in all of the four Olympics that I've participated in," he said.
The defending Finn champion wrapped up the gold with splendid performance on the waters of the Olympic sailing center by taking the lead of every mark.
On the first mark, he sailed a 12-second lead over France and the margin was narrowed by the second mark when Ainslie's advantage was just one second.
The third mark witnessed the world-beater Ainslie take the overall fleet with a 20-second lead and finish the medal race 13 seconds ahead of Denmark. He finally accomplished his hat-trick gold mission at Olympic sailing with 23 points overall.
"This feeling is truly amazing, and it's a massive relief. I could open the champagne right now and rightfully so," said Ainslie (31).
"The last downwind was a little scary. I kept telling myself, 'don't capsize, don't capsize'. All in all, this is my best last race in all of the four Olympics that I've participated in," he said.