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Giles Lyndon Scott MBE (born 23 June 1987) is a British competitive sailor and four-time Finn Gold Cup winner and two-time Olympic gold medallist who won the gold medal for Team GB in the Finn Class at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where having dominated the class, Scott secured his place in the history books winning the gold medal with a day to spare.^[1]^[2] In January 2024, Scott took over the Driver role of the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team from Sir Ben Ainslie. He secured his first SailGP event win in Halifax, Canada, in June 2024. Scott is also part of Ainslie's British America's Cup Team, INEOS Britannia.

Early life and education

Scott was born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, to John and Rosalind Scott. His father was a sports administrator and latterly director of the U.K. Anti Doping Agency and Chief Executive of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. His mother was a special needs teacher. Aged 1, he moved to Canada in 1988 where his father worked for the Federal Minister for Amateur Sport. It was in Canada that he had his first sailing experience in dinghies on the Ottawa River. He returned aged 6 in 1993 and was re-introduced to sailing at the inland reservoir at Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire where his parents encouraged him to take up junior competitive sailing. He was educated at Sharnbrook Upper School in Bedfordshire and the University of Southampton where he graduated with a BSc in Geography.