SAILING: Huntingdon sailor Scott eyes Olympic place after defeating triple champion

HUNTINGDON sailor Giles Scott on Saturday became the first man in six years to defeat �triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie.

And Scott says he aims to end �Ainslie’s dreams of a fourth gold at London 2012 by taking his place in the Great Britain team.

Scott has spent much of his Finn sailing career in the shadow of �Ainslie, the 2008 Olympic �champion, but the 23-year-old managed to turn the tables at the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth.

The victory is especially significant as Weymouth will also host the �sailing events in 2012, and Scott said it was a statement of intent to the selectors. Only one British boat will qualify for the games.

“I suppose it is a big deal, beating Ben and being the first person to do it in the last six years, but I’ve been trying to ignore that fact all week,” he said.

“I’ve got to keep doing it though and be consistent over the next couple of years, that’s the most important thing.

“However, there is a lot more that you have to send out to prove that you’re the correct person to send to the Olympics, especially when you’re trying to take someone like Ben’s spot.

“I think this week has been the first correct signal for me to send out to the selectors. I need to make it hard for them to ignore me.”

Scott is already targeting another medal at the Finn Gold Cup in San Francisco to further his case as the British choice for 2012.

He said: “I really want to win a medal at the Worlds and I think I can take a lot of confidence from what I have done.

“I am very much focused on the World Championships and this was very much a pre-trial, I suppose, for the Olympics in two years’ time.

“To be involved in any Olympics would be great but to be involved in a home Olympics is a dream really.

“Ever since I started racing at about 12 years old it has been drilled into me that it is all about the Olympics, and that is what everything has been geared towards.”