As we countdown to the 35th America’s Cup The Royal Gazette will bring you one fun fact a day about the boats, the sailors, the crew, or the history of this illustrious competition. There are now 39 days until the month-long sporting spectacle gets under way.

A double Olympic champion and now team manager for Artemis Racing, Iain Percy is one of the most successful sailors in the world. He won gold in the Finn Class at the Sydney Olympics, and then teamed up with Andrew Simpson to win gold in Beijing in 2008, and silver in London four years later.

He had his first taste of the America’s Cup as helmsman for +39 Challenge in 2005, where limited funding and other issues saw the Italian team finish ninth in the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Percy and Simpson joined Artemis after the 2012 Olympics, with Simpson losing his life in a training accident in San Francisco Bay in May the following year.

Under extremely difficult circumstances the team rallied under, Iain’s new leadership as Skipper, making it to the start line of the Louis Vuitton Cup.It was an incredible achievement earning huge respect from the global sailing community.

Later that year Iain founded the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation, to honour his close friend, which aims to grow grassroots participation in sailing and provide opportunities to deserving children.

Percy, who is no stranger to Bermuda having won the Gold Cup here in 2010, was named Artemis team manager in October 2013 ahead of the team’s challenge to win the 35th America’s Cup.