Ben Ainslie has the shoulders to burden the weight of expectation and clinch a fourth Olympic gold medal this summer, according to British sailing chief Stephen Park.

Ainslie, 35, will compete at his fifth Olympics in Weymouth having seen off stiff competition from domestic rivals Giles Scott and Ed Wright to seal the sole British London 2012 spot in the Finn class.

The standard-bearer of British sailing, Skandia Team GBR sailor Ainslie, from Macclesfield, is synonymous with Blighty’s Olympic success on the waters and after a silver at Atlanta 1996, the Macclesfield-born sailor has won gold in Sydney, Athens and Beijing.

With the Olympics returning to the capital for the first time in 64 years, the pressure on nine-time world champion Ainslie to succeed off the south coast intensifies further, especially after he was victorious at last summer’s London 2012 test event.

But Park, who received an OBE for guiding Great Britain to a record-breaking medal haul of six at Beijing 2008, is convinced the hype is water off a duck’s back for Ainslie.

“Ben will take all of the expectation in his stride,” said Park. “He’s a four-time Olympian and he’s been there before.

“He will focus first and foremost on his performance on the water and when he’s off it he’s a most and mild mannered individual and focused on the task in hand.

“His shoulders are perfectly broad enough to deal with added interest and the trappings of being a successful athlete.

“All the sailors know what they need to do and we’re putting in place the support that they need to perform to their potential.”

Having overseen a British team that garnered four gold medals, a silver and a bronze at Beijing 2008, and with home advantage on his side this time around, predictions that even more will follow at London 2012 are to be expected.

Park is urging caution however and instead setting his sights on a minimum of four medals – bemoaning the fact that he is not able to pick Scott and Wright as well in the hope Ainslie would lead a British 1-2-3.

“The fact that we are competitive in 100 per cent of events, across the 10 Olympic events is fantastic and it’s pretty unheard of,” he said.

“It would be better if they were all world champions running into the Olympics but there is no other team in the world that’s fielding medal contenders in every event.

Investment specialist Skandia is the principal sponsor of British sailing team.For more details go to www.skandiateamgbr.com