BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012: Ben Ainslie made waves Ainslie's announcement in these pages a few weeks ago that he would not be taking on a sixth Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, but would instead focus his energies on his nascent America's Cup challenge, placed his nomination for the BBC's celebrated sporting gong in a slightly different light. For although it is "only" his achievements in 2012 on which he is meant to be judged (just the one world title and one Olympic title, then) it is inevitable in light of his Rio decision that his entire Olympic oeuvre will be taken into consideration when the votes are cast. And what an oeuvre it is. "The greatest sailor Britain has produced since Lord Nelson," The Daily Telegraph's Henry Winter observed in a pre-London 2012 highlights spool for one of Ainslie's sponsors. If that tribute was delivered tongue in cheek, the comparison had more than a ring of truth to it. Ainslie did prepare for Olympic campaigns as if for war and changed Olympic sailing when he sailed Robert Scheidt down the fleet in Sydney to claim his first gold. The Brazilian, who had beaten the 19 year-old Ainslie in Atlanta, was livid. Ainslie never looked back. His longevity in what is a punishing individual sport is incredible. Lest we forget, Ainslie sailed single-handed dinghies his entire Olympic career. Sir Steve Redgrave is cherished for being our most successful Olympian, but even he relied on team-mates to help him achieve his victories. Ainslie is the only Briton to win four consecutive individual gold medals and only the fourth man of any nationality to do so. For over 20 years, from his mid-teens to his mid-30s, Ainslie worked with a single-mindedness his competitors could simply not match, let alone beat. Woe betide anyone who got in his way - just ask the photographers on the media boat he boarded in fury in Perth last winter. Many wrote off the magnitude of his achievement at London 2012 because he had entered the competition as odds-on favourite. But they forget that his preparations were hampered by a back operation in January; that he had a helicopter on standby early in the competition because he was in such agony he was contemplating a spinal epidural; that he was beaten by Hogh-Christensen in the first six races. Ainslie never stopped believing. Seizing on an incident in race seven, in which he accused his rivals of ganging up on him, he said: "They've made me angry and you don't want to make me angry." The rest is history. Ainslie might not win on Sunday night. Sailing is a minority sport, and if you believe its knockers, an elitist one. It won't affect him, just as it wouldn't if he won. The America's Cup is his sole focus now. Don't bet against him.