Olympic gold medallist talks about being robbed in Barcelona, the America’s Cup and Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Ben Ainslie was consumed by his sporting obsession when the gang of men came for him in Barcelona. After a fraught day, while pursuing his dream of finally winning the America’s Cup with his own team, he stewed over the perennial problems of competing at this level of elite sport where the layers of money, technology and raw ambition can become so tangled. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, they confronted him.

“I was walking back with my wife and father-in-law from dinner,” Ainslie says. “It was around 9.30 on a busy street near where we’re living. These four guys had tracked us and went past us and did a 180-degree turn and came back. The one guy grabbed my arm and tried to take my watch. I grabbed his arm to stop him. We were having a tussle and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw another guy pull a knife out and come towards me.”