Close to the Wind: the Autobiography of Britain's Greatest Olympic Sailor

Download or read book Close to the Wind: the Autobiography of Britain's Greatest Olympic Sailor written by Ben Ainslie and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world's greatest racing sailor - three-times Olympic champion (most recently in Beijing in 2008) Ben Ainslie - tells his story. Having a sailing career since he was eight, Ben Ainslie, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist, has won eight World and European Championships, been crowned ISAF World Sailor of the Year twice, and won British Yachtsman of the Year four times. Ben Ainslie's career in sailing began at the age of eight with his family in Cornwall. What started as a hobby quickly turned into a way of life, and by the age of sixteen he was already Laser Radial World Champion. At just nineteen years old he won his first Olympic medal - silver in the 1996 Atlanta Games. Four years later, he achieved every athlete's dream of Olympic gold at the Sydney Olympics.