Reigning Olympic champion Ben Ainslie is set to compete at the 2012 Games after escaping a fresh punishment for his boarding of a media boat during the World Championships in Australia in December.
Triple Olympic gold medallist Ainslie, one of Britain’s best hopes for Games glory on home water in Weymouth, southwest England, later this year, felt impeded by the media boat during the ninth race of the World Championships in Perth.
The five-times world champion was so incensed by what had happened, he swam to the media boat and pulled himself on board to remonstrate with the crew.
As a result, officials disqualified him from races nine and 10, scuppering his hopes of a podium finish.
Had they wanted to, the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) could have imposed a further punishment upon Ainslie which might have endangered his participation in a fifth Games – the 34-year-old won silver on his Olympic debut in Atlanta in 1996.
But a statement issued by sailing’s governing body on Friday insisted no further action was necessary.
“The tribunal agreed with the decision of the International Jury that the behaviour of Mr Ben Ainslie amounted to a gross breach of good manners and conduct that brought the sport into disrepute,” the statement said.
“Having considered all the evidence put before it, the tribunal was satisfied that it would not be appropriate for the tribunal to impose a penalty over and above that imposed by the International Jury at the event.
“In reaching its decision the tribunal acknowledged that the effect of the penalty imposed by the International Jury was to deny Mr Ainslie the possibility of taking part in the medal race for the event.”
Ainslie said: “I welcome the RYA tribunal’s decision and am looking forward to fully focusing on my Olympic preparations.
“I deeply regret the incident, but would like to thank all the governing bodies involved for their thorough investigation.”
The RYA statement also called for better management of media boats.
“The tribunal also recognised that there was an apparent lack of active management of media boats at this and previous events leading to repeated infringements of the provisions of the event media boat guidelines.
“In addition, formal rights of redress against official boats were not available to competitors.”
