Ben Ainslie is a British Olympic sailor who has won three gold medals but has sacrificed his personal life to pursue sailing success. He admits that his single-minded focus on the sport has negatively impacted his relationships. While he hopes to settle down one day, for now his obsession with winning and fear of failure drives him to continue competing. He views the 2012 London Olympics as a chance to end his Olympic career on a high note before shifting his focus to winning the America's Cup.

1. OLYMPICS COUNTDOWNstarts
with..
9 9 2DAYS TO GO
Chasinggloryhas
sunk my love life
MEDALS COME FIRST FOR ‘OBSESSED’ BEN
HE question is an
easy one for Ben
Ainslie: Swap his
three Olympic golds,
the MBE, OBE and
CBE for an idyllic fam-
ily life?
Or sacrifice personal
relationships in the contin-
ued obsessive pursuit of
success? No-brainer.
The world’s greatest Olympic
sailor picked up silver as a
scrawny 19-year-old in 1996, took
gold in three successive Games
and has been garlanded with
personal honours.
But the 32-year-old knows all
his accolades have come at a
price. Ainslie confessed:
“Sailing means the world to me.
It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.
“But my sport has been very
hard on relationships and family
life. I guess it comes from being so
focused on what I want to achieve.
The people around me can get hurt
in the process.
“There was one relationship in par-
ticular that fell apart because of what I
do, but it’s a sacrifice I’ve had to make.
“People have needs but when you’re
travelling the world indulging your
passion, their needs can fall by the
wayside.
“I can be oblivious to things that
mean a lot to people and, in the end, it
can be painful for everyone involved.
“I would like to settle down and have
children one day but at the moment I’m
too focused on my passion.”
It is obvious Ainslie is desperate to
pass on his love of sport to children of
his own in the future.
But for now he is content passing on
his knowledge to niece Tansy, seven,
and five-year-old nephew Oscar.
Ben’s eyes light up as he explains:
“Tansy took part in her first race the
other day and won so I got an excited
phone call from her telling me all about
it. Oscar is still learning but he’s really
getting into it too.
“I think encouraging children to take
part in sport is so important and I’m at
least passing on my sailing bug.”
Fear
Ben’s father Roddy is the man respon-
sible for igniting the passion for sailing.
Roddy skippered in the Whitbread
Round the World Race in 1973-74 and
he was so set on making his son a suc-
cess in the sport that he and wife Susan
remortgaged their Cornwall home to
fund Ben’s junior career before sailing
received National Lottery funding.
Yet Ben admits FEAR is one of the
major driving forces keeping alive his
obsession with sailing.
He added: “The biggest weakness I
have is that I am all-consumed by my
goals and a fear of not achieving them.
“I have a big fear of failure. I guess
it’s something a lot of sportsmen share.
Even with everything I have achieved
so far I still feel it. I’ve always been a
bit too small for the boats I’ve sailed in
so I was terrified by the strong winds at
times. Even when I got my silver medal
in Atlanta I felt out of my depth. I
wasn’t really comfortable until I got my
first two Olympics under my belt. Now
I use my fear in a more positive way.
“With so many great younger sailors
coming through desperate to knock me
off my perch I’m determined to prove to
them and myself I’m still at the top.
“I’d like to think I was one of the best
competitive sailors out there — and I’m
not ready to surrender that quite yet.”
Ben’s next goal is the London 2012
Olympics. To mark the “Three Years To
Go” milestone, the National Lottery are
creating gold casts of him and 79 other
British Olympic champs to exhibit at
various sites in the build-up to the
event.
And Ben knows these Games will
probably be his last before he moves
onto his next project — the America’s
Cup.The Auld Mug, introduced in 1851,
is the oldest active trophy in sport and
the Laser Class Olympic sailor says
bringing it home would be a “dream
come true”.
Ben explained: “When 2012 comes
along I’ll be 35 so I expect it to be my
last Games. Then it will be all about the
America’s Cup. Bringing the Auld Mug
home is perhaps even bigger than the
Olympics to me. It’s massive.
“Seriously, if the Games weren’t here
in 2012 I would think very seriously
about whether to compete. But because
I get to sail close to where I grew up
and learned my craft, 2012 is simply too
special to pass up.
“It’s a life-changing opportunity and
a great close to my Olympic journey.”
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BEN AINSLIE was taking part in a series of commemorative hand and foot print casts
commissioned by The National Lottery to honour UK Olympic and Paralympic Games
competitors, with the aim of exhibiting them in the build-up to and during London 2012.
National Lottery players have raised more than £3billion for British sport and
the National Lottery is contributing up to £2.2bn to
the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
By GREG GOBERE
NEWS OF THE WORLD, November 8, 2009 77