Sophie Claire Ainsworth (born 22 June 1989) is a British sailor who qualified to compete at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Personal life

Ainsworth was born on 22 June 1989 in

Ashford, Kent Ashford is a town in the county of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Great Stour at the southern or Escarpment, scarp edge of the North Downs, about southeast of central London and northwest of Folkestone by road. In the ...

, England. She studied exercise and sports science at the University of Exeter. Whilst at the university she was sponsored by a local law firm as part of a sports scholarship scheme.

Sailing

She finished tenth at the 2010 European

470 __NOTOC__ Year 470 ( CDLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Iordanes (or, less frequently, year 1223 '' ...

Championships, alongside fellow University of Exeter alumni

Sophie Weguelin Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess of ...

. Ainsworth and Weguelin won their first World Cup regatta medal in Miami in 2012, winning the bronze medal as British teammates and training partners Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark won silver. They then won a gold medal at the 2012 European Championship event in Largs, Scotland. The British pair were one of four teams in contention heading into the final race in 2012 and secured the overall title ahead of Solvenian pair

Tina Mrak Tina Mrak (born 6 February 1988 in Koper) is a Slovenian Olympic sailor and recipient of several medals from various international events. Mrak finished Faculty of sports, University of Ljubljana and earned a profession of Physical education tea ...

and Teja Cerne despite finishing behind them in the medal race. In 2013 Ainsworth teamed up with

Charlotte Dobson Charlotte Fletcher-Scott ( Dobson, born 5 June 1986) is a British sailor who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Olympics. Personal life Dobson was born on 5 June 1986 in Glasgow, Scotland. She studied psychology at the Un ...

to compete in the

49erFX The 49er and 49er FX is a two-handed skiff-type high-performance sailing dinghy. The two crew work on different roles with the helm making many tactical decisions, as well as steering, and the crew doing most of the sail control. Both of the cr ...

classification. The 49er is a two-handed skiff-type sailing dinghy with high performance, and the 49erFX is a version designed for a lighter crew (120 kg). It has the same hull, wings, and foils as the 49er but the mast is shorter and the mainsail, jib and gennaker are smaller and lighter. This lowers the centre of gravity and makes the boat easier to sail while improving the overall performance. At the 2014 49er European Championships, held in Helsinki, Finland, the pair managed a sixth place. The following year, at the 49erFX World Championships, held in San Isidro, Argentina, they finished in fifth place, only four points behind the medal positions. With these successes behind them, in March 2016 they were selected as part of the Great Britain team for the

to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They are due to compete in the women's 49erFX event, which is making its debut at the Games. They competed in the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma, Majorca in April 2016, finishing fifth in the opening race before suffering problems with their equipment in race two. They eventually placed sixth overall after taking second place in the final race. Later that month at the 49er European Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Ainsworth and Dobson were joint third after the second day of competition where they finished their three races, first, second and third. A victory in the final medal race meant they eventually finished ninth overall, and seventh among European boats.

References

External Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ainsworth, Sophie 1989 births Living people People from Ashford, Kent English female sailors (sport) Alumni of the University of Exeter Sailors at the 2016 Summer Olympics – 49er FX Olympic sailors of Great Britain