Ben Ainslie quits America's Cup

The double Olympic medallist tells Andy Rice why his heart is set on winning another medal in Athens

Despite his gold and silver medals in two successive Olympics, Ainslie accepts that in America's Cup terms he is still somewhere near the bottom of the food chain. But that didn't make it any easier to cope with the situation. "I realise the team I was with had a vast amount of experience - there were lots of America's Cup winners there. It would have been nice to try some of those other roles, but I can understand where they were coming from."

Ainslie makes no secret of his dream job: "I'd like to be a helmsman, and yes, you always want to sail for your home country given that opportunity, although the most important thing is being part of a good team."

For the time being, however, Ainslie is looking forward to getting home - back to his small house in Lymington. Despite talk of him launching straight into a Finn campaign for Athens, Ainslie said he had yet to settle on any course of action.

"Even before I joined One World I'd had aspirations of doing the next Olympics, but it was when I decided to move on from One World that it made me think harder about what my next move would be. I think if I had seen the America's Cup through it would have been hard to mount a serious challenge for the Olympics. You can always have a stab at it and see how it goes, but I think if you commit yourself to something like that you've got to give yourself every chance. It's such a hard thing to do."

The Soling had been a strong possibility because of the match racing element, at which Ainslie proved himself so adept in the showdown with Robert Scheidt for the gold medal on Sydney Harbour. But then the keelboat was rejected from future Olympic Games at the ISAF Annual Conference in November 2000.

Then, of course, there was the Laser but Ainslie has already ruled that out. "I don't think I could do the Laser because of my weight now." Constant work in the gym has seen him bulk up from his 82 kilos in Sydney to 87 kilos. "I don't think I could lose it, there's not much fat to lose."

The Star is a boat that appeals, but his great friend Iain Percy, the Finn Olympic champion, is already in there and campaigning hard, along with 49er silver medallist Ian Barker. It is a crowded class from a British perspective. Not that the British Finn fleet will be a pushover, as the squads' performances have shown during 2001. And he would be going up against another good friend, Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson, whom Percy has tipped as gold medal material.

For the moment, Ainslie refuses to lay his cards on the table, but admits the technically demanding singlehander is a strong possibility for him. "I’ve spoken to John Derbyshire [the RYA racing manager and his former coach], and the Finn is the most likely option but it’s not definite. There’s the issue of putting on the weight and I’ve got a few injuries that I’ve got to sort out which might prevent me from sailing a Finn. So I’ve got to get those checked out first."

Come back tomorrow to read Ben’s views on the America’s Cup, along with comments about his future from John Derbyshire and Ben’s father Roddy.