Ben Ainslie has suggested that he could retire from sailing after coming through his toughest race yet to take gold at his home Olympic Games.

Ainslie's gold was his fourth of his career, and the Team GB sailor said that after managing to overturn a tough start that he might "bow out" on a high.

"After six races I was in a bit of trouble, thankfully I turned things round and got it right when it counted," he told BBC Sport. "This was one of the hardest courses I have raced on and i don't want to do anything like that again.

"You can never say never but I don't think I can sail one of these again, it's killing my body so I don't think you will see me in Rio. It's the best way to bow out at a home Olympics."

Ainslie pipped Denmark's Jonas Hogh-Christensen into ninth place in the final race to take gold overall.