RYA Tribunal on Perth 2011 incident reactions from Ainslie and Park

by Lindsey Bell on 11 Feb 2012 Perth 2011 - Reactions to the RYA Tribunal decision from Ben Ainslie and Stephen Park, RYA Olympic Manager, are as follows:

Ben Ainslie: 'I welcome the RYA Tribunal’s decision and am looking forward to fully focussing on my Olympic preparations. I deeply regret the incident, but would like to thank all the governing bodies involved for their thorough investigation.'

Stephen Park: 'The Tribunal report will now go to ISAF as is standard practice, but from a Skandia Team GBR perspective we’re all keen to take on board lessons learned and put the matter to bed. As we have said from the outset, it’s regrettable that the incident occurred in the first place, but we’re grateful that the Tribunal recognised the mitigating factors and are relieved to be able to now move on and focus on the task of preparing for Ben’s bid for a fourth Olympic gold this summer.

'We’re grateful for the support and openness of all parties involved as we all try and take the opportunity to learn from the incident and improve future interactions as sailing looks to enhance its media exposure and RYA website