FOUR-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie will wed his TV presenter fiancee Georgie Thompson over the festive period.

The Lymington-based sailor, who won a gold medal in the 2012 Olympic sailing events in Dorset, became engaged to TV presenter Georgie Thompson “a couple of months ago”.

Sir Ben revealed at the weekend that the wedding would be over the festive season and said there “may be a boat involved” in the honeymoon.

Divulging that he had suffered from "a touch of man flu" during the Extreme 40 Sailing Series in Sydney this month, Sir Ben said: "With luck, I will not be sneezing and sniffling my way down the aisle."

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Sir Ben also described his shock in returning from Sydney after his team placed fifth in the competition to hear of the siege that happened at a cafe in the Australian city.

"It was a reality check to think that we had been so close to such an appalling tragedy,” he wrote.

Sir Ben said his team, Ben Ainslie Racing, would "return with renewed vigour in the New Year. I've just got a small date to keep first".