In another world, without gold medals to win and Olympics to host, Ben Ainslie would make a fine pirate – mild-mannered and humble on dry land he is ruthless and tenacious on the water and he knows a thing or two about plundering treasure.
Ainslie had little choice but to be cut-throat to clinch a fourth consecutive gold medal but fortunately it comes easily to the most successful Olympic sailor in history who cast the record books into the English Channel last Sunday.
There is little doubting that Ainslie's back was against the wall – he had been cornered by some faultless Finn class sailing from Jonas Hoegh-Christensen and some underhand tactics by the Dane and the Netherlands' Pieter-Jan Postma – he but refused to lie down and cede defeat.
He already had three Olympic golds but Ainslie's will to win is unrivalled and he swashbuckled his way back to the top of the rankings, squeezing out every drop of experience he has collected since winning silver at Atlanta 1996 as a teenager.
This one was the hardest for Ainslie – he readily admitted that – but missing out on Great Britain's London 2012 gold rush was not an option and after going back to the well one last time and digging deep within himself, he is ready to sail off into the sunset.
"It's been hard because the expectations going in were so high and no matter how many times I said that wasn't the case people kept pushing it," said Ainslie.
"And when I started off on the back foot then of course people were upset that I wasn't winning so that's hard as a competitor. But that's the nature of the position I was in and I just had to fight back and it took everything to get back on equal terms going into that medal race.
"I've been through a lot of scrapes in my career and come through most of them and thankfully came through this one.
"It's been hard the last 18 months – I've had issues with my back over the winter and had to have some surgery on that – slowly things start to fall apart physically as you get older. And it is really tough, especially downwind – you're pushing yourself to the limit and the body doesn't always like it.
"Regarding another Olympics, you never say never but it would be impossible to ever experience anything better than this so it would need to be a very good reason to come back.
"I do like living on the edge – it's interesting that way but it wasn't on purpose this week.
"Jonas in particular sailed one of the best series I've ever seen and pushed me all the way so all credit to him."
For all the sensationalism surrounding 'Lightning Bolts' and 'Mo-bots' Ainslie's feats more than match up to those taking place in the Olympic Stadium.
It took Usain Bolt 9.63 seconds to blaze into legend, it took Farah a shade under half an hour. It took Ainslie a week of 11 intense races with no margin for error and numerous sleepless nights to etch his name into folklore.
The pressure on Ainslie had been burgeoning. Just like Jessica Ennis, Farah and Bolt, the public demanded victory and he duly delivered. It is surely only a matter of time before those shoulders that bore the expectation are bestowed at Buckingham Palace.
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