Ben Ainslie, MBE is British sailor and a double Olympic gold medal winner.

Currently living in Lymington, Ainslie won gold at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney in the Laser sailing class and repeated the trick in 2004 in Athens, this time in the larger Finn class.

Ainslie put down an Olympic marker in 1996 in Atlanta, winning a silver medal in the Laser class, that he would go on to better four years later in Australia.

As a budding sailor, Ainslie won a silver medal at the World Youth Sailing Championships in Greece in 1994, and bagged a gold medal in the same championships the following year in Bermuda.

Ainslie has been awarded the title of British Yachtsman of the year on four occasions, in 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2002.

Name: Ben Ainslie OCCUPATION: olympic sailor Date of birth: February 5, 1977 Local link: Lives in Lymington