Great Britain's sailing idol Ben Ainslie has achieved his dream: with his fourth Olympic victory in a row and the silver medal he won in 1996, the 35-year-old from Lymington has broken the 52-year-old Olympic record of the legendary Paul Elvström. The Dane had won four gold medals between 1948 and 1960.
The waving Union Jack in his hand, the other fist repeatedly clenched in happiness and finally a satisfied smile on his recently grim and determined face: Great Britain's "King Ben" Ainslie has achieved his personal goal - and is abdicating at the climax.
"It was a long journey. The pressure was enormous. It was the hardest weeks of my life," said the 35-year-old Finn dinghy sailor, who was given his first second-hand Optimist for Christmas at the age of eight and has since risen irresistibly to become the best Olympic sailor in history.
Germany's most successful Olympic sailor, Jochen Schümann from Berlin, is well placed to judge this exceptional performance. Schümann won his first gold medal in 1976 in the Finn Dinghy. He later won two more gold medals in the Soling and ended his career with silver in Sydney 2000. Having slipped back to third place in the all-time list of the best together with the Russian Valentin Mankin as a result of Ainslie's triumph, Schümann told YACHT online: "Congratulations to Ben. He has achieved what many and he himself expected, but had to fight harder than expected. He has created a new superlative for the sport of sailing."
Around ten thousand fans witnessed Ainslie's farewell gala live in the sailing arena in the Olympic area. On the greens of "The Nothe" fortress alone, 4500 fans cheered on the sailors, including many Danish spectators. "It was fantastic, unique, unforgettable," said Ainslie. Accompanied by the frenetic cheers of the crowd, "King Ben" started the medal final two points behind leader Jonas Hogh-Christensen. Before that, he had been horrified to see his childhood friend Iain Percy and Andrew "Bart" Simpson lose the first gold medal in the Star boat for Great Britain to the Swedes Freddy Loof and Max Salminen. Double Olympic champions Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada were left with bronze.
But neither the defeat of their team-mates nor their own deficit could stop the strong nerves on their triumphant journey to the summit. Jonas Hogh-Christensen, who had received tuition in duelling sails from Schümann's conqueror Jesper Bank from Denmark before the race, was unable to stand up to the well thought-out Brit despite a successful escape in the pre-start phase and a perfect start. In the light winds for the first time, the Dane once again chose the left-hand side, which he had often favoured before, and was wrong. Ainslie, on the other hand, "asked" by the Dane to take the right-hand side at the split start, found his luck there and skilfully manoeuvred his way through the spins from then on. However, Jonas Hogh-Christensen proved to be a fair opponent even in the face of his defeat: "Ben Ainslie is the best sailor of the modern era." At the end of this duel of giants, both sailors had put their differences and anger behind them and shook hands.
However, Ainslie also benefited on the British "Super Sunday" from a penalty against the Dutchman Pieter-Jan Postma, who even sailed on course for gold at times in the final, but lost his chances of a medal due to the penalty. Jonas Hogh-Christensen took silver, while Frenchman Jonathan Lobert won bronze and caused a lot of laughter at the press conference in the evening. After a quarter of an hour, a journalist wanted to know how it feels when nobody asks you a question. Lobert laughed and said: "We Finn sailors have known that for a long time. It's always like that when Ben is around."
When Ben Ainslie crossed the finish line of the medal race, the crowd on the slopes went wild. The hero cheered, lit two red flares and took the bath in the crowd with relish. At the International Press Centre in Weymouth, some British photographers and journalists even had tears of joy streaming down their faces. "He is the Greatest of all times" was heard over and over again. In England, the Queen is expected to knight Ben Ainslie before the end of the year. IOC President Jacques Rogge, himself a former Olympian in the Finn dinghy, had already compared the Briton to swimmer Michael Phelps and sprinter Usain Bolt before his final: "For me, his performances are as convincing as those of Phelps or Bolt."
Ben Ainslie has worked hard for his sailing success since his teenage years, always with successful coach David Howlett at his side in recent years, but has also paid for it with a lot of pain: "Every week another part of my body breaks down." At the peak of his career, he now declared his Olympic farewell: "This is the best time to go. It would be a huge surprise if I were to turn up at the Olympic Games in Rio." However, Ainslie will remain true to sailing as a professional and new second helmsman for Oracle Team USA and sparring partner of James Spithill in the America's Cup, the 34th edition of which will be held off San Francisco in 2013.
The man from Cornwall fulfilled one of his three big wishes this Sunday. He will work on the other two in the future: "I still want to win the America's Cup with a British team and I would like to have my own family."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
