The 34-year-old from Lymington is among a group of 11 sailors chosen for the Games, including siblings Kate and Lucy Macgregor, the first sisters to be picked to represent Britain in sailing at the Olympics.

They are part of the team for the Elliott 6m women's match racing team, which is making its debut in the Olympics having replaced yngling, and they are joined by Annie Lush.

For Ainslie, the target is a fourth gold medal to go with the silver he took at his first Olympics in Atlanta 15 years ago.

If he is victorious it will make him the most successful sailor in Olympic history, putting him ahead of Denmark's Paul Elvstrøm, who won four gold medals between 1948 and 1960.

Ainslie will start as the firm favourite for the event at Weymouth and Portland having overcome the second best Finn sailor in the world, Giles Scott, in claiming the one British slot in the class.


Ainslie only returned to the Finn last autumn after his America's Cup ambitions fell through.

He followed a hard programme to get himself back into contention and clinched victory in the crucial Sail for Gold Regatta at the Olympic venue at Weymouth in June, when Scott was second.

Ainslie also won the Olympic test event there last month.

London 2012 will be his final Olympics.

"It's an honour to be selected to compete for Team GB at the 2012 Olympics," said Ainslie, who won the Laser event at Sydney in 2000 and the Finn in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

"This qualification process was definitely the hardest compared to the previous four I've been through.

"The previous experience helped, but at the same time having the Olympics in the UK puts that added bit of pressure on, we all want to compete on home waters, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Ainslie is joined by other British Olympic gold medallists in Paul Goodison, given the opportunity to defend the Laser title he won in Beijing in 2008, and Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, the defending champions in the Star class.


Percy will be chasing his third Olympic gold medal in 2012 having won the Finn at Sydney.

"That's the first hurdle over," said the 35-year-old from Southampton.

"But really ever since Beijing we've been focussing on 29 July 2012 and all the hard work over the past few years has been to make sure we're in the best possible shape come that day.

"I'm really proud to be representing Team GB at my fourth Olympics.

"It's every athlete's dream to win an Olympic medal at home - so we'll be giving it our all to be up there on the podium again next year."

Goodison, 33, welcomed the opportunity to begin preparing for the Olympics knowing his selection was secure.

"I know it's still 10 months away but for it's really important that selection's out of the way so I can start to focus on what I need to do to put myself in the right position to deliver," he said.

"This will be my third Olympic Games - it's going to be very different from the last two but with a home Olympics I'm sure it's going to be an advantage to be on home waters with a home crowd.

"We spent a lot of time training out there in Weymouth and hopefully this will pay dividends next year."

Britain is the most successful Olympic sailing nation in the world, having won a total of 49 medals, including 24 golds, since the sport made its debut at Paris in 1900.


"This announcement is a key milestone and an exciting and important milestone for us - it represents the beginning of the creation of Team GB," said Andy Hunt (pictured), the chief executive of the British Olympic Association (BOA) and Chef de Mission of Team GB.

"Having the first athletes confirmed for Team GB for the London 2012 Olympic Games is fantastic.

"There is certainly some fierce competition within sailing and there are no free passes to compete for Team GB in any sport in London 2012.

"In fact, in terms of overall depth and talent, we believe Team GB in London 2012 will be the most competitive British Olympic team in modern history.

"Our aspiration for Team GB in London 2012 is to win more medals across more sports than for over a century."


The first wave of announcements is completed by Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark in the 470 women and windsurfers Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw, who won bronze medals at Athens in 2004 and Beijing 2008.

"All the sailors selected today have had a fantastic year of performances which has resulted in them gaining selection at an early opportunity, allowing them good time to focus their campaigns specifically on the challenges of Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour in preparation for the 2012 Games," said Stephen Park, the Team GB sailing team leader.

"The mix of experience we have with the six Olympic medallists, one Olympian and four first-time Olympians provides an exciting balance that will hopefully deliver the required results in 2012."

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