Sports Personality Of The Year 2013: Ranking The Big Contenders

3. Sir Ben Ainslie

Sailing may not be a sport that a lot of people had seen much of outside of the Olympics, or at least that was the case up until September that is, when Ainslie almost single handily made the difference between defeat and victory for team USA in the 2013 Americas Cup in San Francisco. Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie, or Ben as he is commonly known as, received a knighthood in the New Year following his fourth Olympic gold medal last summer; to become one of Team GB's most decorated athletes ever. He has a silver medal from Atlanta 1996, as well as a golds from Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and of course London 2012. He plans to start a Team GB for the Americas Cup in the future and could see a legacy kick off similar to that of cycling, thanks to the Olympics, proving that Ainslie stands a good chance at picking up the award next month.