Ben Ainslie, the making of...meet the people who made him a star and keep him king of the seas The next day we took it down to the beach and told him to sail it to the pub where we were having Christmas lunch. Ben was dressed in a duffel coat and wellies. He didn't look like much of a sailor then. But he made it somehow. We gave him quite a lot of freedom as a boy. I don't know where he gets his competitive spirit from. Neither Sue nor I are remotely competitive. But Ben has always had that in him. That famous medal race in Sydney? That was Ben. He just has to win. We remain very close. We speak nearly every day by phone and we probably go to Lymington, where he and Fleur live and where our grandchildren are, once a month. Ainslie with his father Roddy who was a keen sailor and an inspiration to his son Jim Saltonstall Coach, in charge of the RYA Youth Programme when Ainslie was a boy Ben was one of my "ferrets." That's what I call the youngsters who come through the Royal Yachting Association youth programme. I guess I was a sort of father figure to them in many ways. Ben's parents Roddy and Sue were around a lot but they didn't come to all the regattas. They were very good though. When Ben was sailing Optimists in the youth squad they didn't interfere in what I was doing, unlike some Oppie parents who, to be honest, are a right pain in the backside! I was involved in Ben's development from the age of 10 up to 22, taking in the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics. I was a rules adviser at the latter and was with him for the duration of the famous protest hearing involving Robert Scheidt. Memories of him as a boy? We wondered at times whether he would be good enough. I remember him as very determined, always wanting to do well. Perhaps most strikingly he was extremely self-motivating. He didn't need a kick up the backside like some teenagers. He was aggressive on the water, but in a very controlled way. There were no tantrums which I can recall. In fact he was almost introverted; a listener. He would absorb everything and then just go out and do it. He was also a quick developer. I can remember his last Optimist world championship in Argentina where he finished 12th. To cut a short story long he went straight from there to the Laser Radial World Championship in New Zealand and won the gold medal. I was seriously impressed by that. That was the beginning of the road to the GB youth team. The rest is history. We often speak on the phone and he's extremely supportive of the youth programme. He doesn't forget his friends or how he got to where he is today and if I ask him to help out he's only too happy to oblige. A young Ainslie enjoyed sailing with his parents at an early age Sandra Showell English teacher, Peter Symonds College, Winchester Ben was with us for one year at Peter Symonds College in Winchester. I taught him GCSE English. He was a really good student; very quiet, very polite, very unassuming. It was quite difficult getting anything out of him in the speaking and listening modules. Part of the course involved writing a layman's guide to a subject of your choosing. Of course, he chose Olympic racing. It's a little booklet with an introduction, instructions. He got an "A" for it I think. I still have it; I keep hoping he's going to get on This is Your Life and I will be invited on! I bet he's forgotten all about it. He never bragged about his achievements. In fact, we only found out he was so into sailing because we were made aware that he would be needing some time off to prepare for the Olympics. His great friend Iain Percy was also here. I remember when they came back after both of them won gold in Sydney. We got a double-decker bus, a jazz band, balloons and a sheet which read "Olympic Gold." By the time we got to Winchester the sheet had crumpled so that it read "Olympic God," which was just as apt. An amazing day. The next time they came back, after Ben won gold in Athens and Iain got a silver, he asked for the celebrations to be toned down as he felt it would be inappropriate. It shows what kind of a man he is. When you think about it, it was quite a risk Ben took. He didn't go to university like his friend Iain. He dedicated himself to sailing; he was so focused. I know they all say how aggressive he is on the water but he is such a nice guy off it. Everybody here is so proud of him. We love him to bits. A determined Ainslie, top left, with team-mates in his sailing squad aged 13 Iain Percy Two-time Olympic champion and friend At a world championship in South Africa an almighty storm had come in, we were in False Bay, it was blowing about 50 knots, there were Great White sharks everywhere. We had just finished the race and we were ahead of the others but you couldn't really know that because visibility was non-existent with the gale. Ben wiped out next to me. We were trying to get in together as it was nasty and off flew his hat and in the middle of the storm he said "can you get my hat?" and I was like "what do you mean, can I get your hat? I can't even make it to the shore. We also had a disaster back in the day in a 49er when we managed to be towed in by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution having broken every part of the boat we were lent; the boat, the mast, the boom, the pole, the rudder, everything was broken, and off we were dragged with our tails between our legs. It was all his fault of course. He can be great fun off the water but on it he is a serious individual. I have raced with and against Ben for over 25 years and he has always been a fierce competitor. There is a heap load of talent there, too, don't get me wrong, but he was always extremely committed. He was the first guy who went full-time and he did it at 16. We all traipsed off to university and he took it on so early. That dedication showed through in results. When Ainslie was five years old he already had a passion for sailing on the family boat Robert Scheidt Brazilian sailor, Ainslie's great rival and the only man to beat the Briton at an Olympic regatta Ben is four years younger than me and I can remember his arrival in the Laser class. He was climbing quite quickly before the Atlanta Games, getting some good results, but no one expected him to be so good, so early. He was very tough at 19 but I had a little more experience at that time. I could see he was going to be a tough opponent for Sydney. We shared the four world championships between Atlanta and Sydney, two each. Then in the final in Sydney he obviously came out with a game-plan to sail me out of the race. Honestly I think he was more prepared for match racing than me. I was still inexperienced at that time in that kind of situation. If it had happened later in my career I would have been more prepared but I learned the hard way. He deserved to win. I was bitter for a while. But that's history now. Unfortunately he moved up to the Finn class for Athens and I kept sailing Lasers. I have had some tough opponents during my career but I would say Ben is the toughest. He is prepared to go further. He is very polite and friendly out of the water - and we talk when we see each other - but after all of our tough battles it is hard to be very close to someone. I respect and admire him for the person he is and for his results. It was no shame to lose to someone who I expect to become the most successful Olympic sailor of all time next month. I'm just happy we had the chance to face each other at our best and pushed each other to new heights. It was an honour. Ainslie and his father Roddy still speak almost every day on the phone Sir Keith Mills Entrepreneur, CEO of London 2012 campaign and founder of Team Origin, Britain's defunct challenger for the America's Cup I first got to know Ben during the London 2012 bid process in 2003. But I got to know him when I set up Team Origin, the British America's Cup entry before the Americans took it in a strange direction. Ben is an extraordinary athlete. He is one of that rare breed of super champions - the Roger Federers of this world. He has huge talent, huge focus. He's been applying that for many years to Olympic sailing but in the America's Cup I could see him apply himself in a less familiar environment. On a dinghy you're on your own. It's different being in charge of a crew of 17 America's Cup sailors. What makes him so special? To start with he has, in common with other great sportsmen, a sort of sixth sense. He can see wind shifts on the water. It's like special vision. And he couples it with excellent technical and tactical ability to make the most of his gift. He can outmanoeuvre almost anyone. On top of which, he is a sponsor's dream. He looks good, speaks well, keeps his ego in check; he is a fantastic ambassador for his sport and his country. When he gets on the water, of course, he becomes a different animal. The last time I came across Ben in a racing context was at the Round the Island race last year. He was on a 40ft yacht with a bunch of reporters on board. I had my Team Origin TP52 with Iain Percy at the helm. It was very windy. We were heading for a collision and missed each other by centimetres. He was absolutely in the wrong - he was on port tack, we were on starboard - but he left it to the last possible moment. He really does take no prisoners on the water. Ainslie has never looked back since winning silver in Atlanta David "Sid" Howlett Ben's current coach The thing that stands out for me about Ben is his intensity. His willingness to go the extra mile. Coaching doesn't work when there's an imbalance of intensity with the athlete. I have had people who don't have it and it is frustrating but you don't get that with Ben. He is the one who pushes and I'm the one at the moment who is trying to pull him back because he's in danger of over-training or getting too tired with all the extra pressures which are on him at Games time. With the new Finn rules, with the free-pumping, it is getting more physical and it pays to be bigger, taller and heavier. Ben doesn't have that natural advantage but what he does have is a huge work ethic. I remember once a few years ago we were doing some tacking practice in Portland harbour and it was blowing 20 knots. Really hard work. We had seven or eight guys out doing it. Tacking on the whistle every 15 seconds. And by the time we had done 50 or 60 tacks there was a huge distance between Ben and anyone else. Some had capsized. So I let him carry on for a bit and then I motor up to him and say "Right, that's 100 Ben, that'll do. Good work. And he says "Great, I'll just do another 10."