Coach Park: Ainslie will 'kill' anyone who gets in way of third Olympic gold

Pity the sailor who tries to come between Ben Ainslie, a third gold medal and entry into the global sporting hall of fame as one of the great Olympians.

That was the message yesterday from British team manager Stephen Park as a combination of no wind and low visibility in the Yellow Sea confined the fleet to port for the first time in this Olympic regatta.

‘If it comes down to a medal race between Ben and another boat, Ben will kill him,’ said Park, looking ahead to the Finn class climax.

‘It is not even a discussion worth having. Bet your house on it. Bet your mate’s house on it.

'In fact, bet the nation’s house on it. He will just annihilate anybody else that he has got to beat.

‘You just don’t want to be in the boat that is going to stand between Ben and a gold medal. He will absolutely drill him.’

Tearful Brazilian Robert Scheidt, the then defending champion, discovered as much in Sydney.

Ainslie’s tactic of ‘taking’ his closest rival’s wind and driving him further and further off-course provided one of the most memorable images of
the 2000 games.

Not everyone approved, with Sir Roger Bannister accusing his fellow Englishman of unsportsmanlike behaviour.

To which an unimpressed Ainslie, 31, replied tersely: ‘He does not know anything about sailing.’

Park has a smidgen of sympathy for any misunderstanding. ‘Arguably it is a problem which the sport has in terms of explaining itself to the public,’ he said.

‘But what’s happening is within the rules of the game. That’s what you can do if you choose to do it.

'You can block and you can defend, provided you do it within the rules.’

It is this ruthlessness, allied to a supreme talent, fierce competitiveness and steely nerve, which has won Ainslie two Olympic gold medals and a silver, as well as six world championship titles.

His status in sailing is akin to that of Tiger Woods in golf.

Park illustrated the point with a story from earlier this week. He was approached by a couple of Portuguese officials wondering how Ainslie had fared in the day’s racing.

He had won, of course.

The Portuguese both nodded. ‘That’s no surprise,’ one said.

‘Everyone knows what is going to happen in the Finn class.’

Stephen Park, Great Britain team sailing manager, says Ainslie will 'annihilate' anyone who gets in his way of gold in Beijing

That sense of expectation would extend to Ainslie himself, but as a measure of his self-confidence rather than arrogance.

He realises he can be a victim of circumstance beyond his control, as in his opening (and worst) race of the week when the wind dropped suddenly where he was sailing.

He appreciates that the tiniest mistake can be costly; he just doesn’t expect to make any mistakes.

‘He’s the sailor of our time,’ said Park.

‘Ben has an incredible talent for making the right tactical decisions at the right time to get the best out of his boat.

'He seems to be able to always pick out those gusts, pick out those opportunities, to make the right decisions about where the wind is going to come from next. He is therefore able to make gains while everyone else is sitting still.

‘He is just one of those gifted sports people.

'A bit like how Michael Schumacher was able to drive round Monaco two seconds faster than anyone else in the pouring rain.

'Ben is at one with his machine. He is able to do things automatically while looking outside the boat at what’s going on around him.’

In the case of yesterday, not a lot.

A day on dry land for Britain’s ‘blondes in a boat’ meant that Athens gold medallists Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb and newcomer Pippa Wilson maintained their lead in the yngling class.

Surely there is no more appropriately named competition for this part of the world.

It may look like it has lost a vowel but, pronounced Ying Ling, it sounds like an Oriental martial art.

Qingdao has embraced the Olympics and sailing to such an extent that thousands of people lined a spectacular man-made barrage peering out into a Fushan Bay shrouded in — take your pick: mist, fog or smog.

They would call it haar on the east coast of Scotland.

Haar today, gone tomorrow, the corny old joke goes.

No guarantee of that here. More like haar today, still haar tomorrow and the day after.

The loss of an entire day’s programme some time during the Games had been expected by those familiar with the weather conditions in these waters.

The photographer who snapped the picture in the Media Centre was either lucky or extremely patient. ‘Azure seas and green hills of Qingdao,’ the caption reads.

What hills? You could be here a long time before discovering that the small fishing village turned city of nine million is surrounded by mountains.

Down at the pond-like water’s edge, squadrons of dragonflies fought out mock dogfights. All week, regatta spectators have seen many a dragonfly.

But they have never seen a Finn fly.

Not even one in the hands of the incomparable Ben Ainslie.