Ainslie as good as Phelps - Rogge

Olympics chief Jacques Rogge says Ben Ainslie's achievement in winning a third sailing gold is the equal of Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt's heroics.

Britain's Ainslie won gold in the Finn class for the third straight Games, but Phelps and Bolt dominated the headlines with more high-profile performances.

In an exclusive interview with BBC sports editor Mihir Bose, Rogge said Ainslie deserved greater recognition.

"For me, his achievement is as valid as Phelps or Bolt," said Rogge.

Phelps and Bolt are likely to leave China as the two faces of the Beijing Olympics.

London should be the return to the country which invented modern sport IOC president Jacques Rogge on the 2012 Games

Jamaican sprinter Bolt took gold in the 100m and 200m, winning both in astonishing world-record times, while US swimming phenomenon Phelps broke Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record by winning eight gold medals in Beijing.

"I don't like to compare athletes from different sports, but Ben Ainslie competes in a boat class where he can only win one medal," added International Olympic Committee president Rogge, who competed in the sailing in the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Games.

"The others (Phelps and Bolt) can win two, three... all the way up to eight. What they do is fantastic, but what Ainslie does is equally fantastic."

Britain have surpassed all expectations in Beijing, with canoeist Tim Brabants winning their 18th gold of the Games on Friday to keep them in third place in the medal table.

Three-time gold medallist Chris Hoy has exemplified Team GB's success in Beijing

"Since a few years ago, especially after the 1996 Atlanta Games where it was not so spectacular, you have made a very good effort.

"You have targeted some sports where you could win more medals which was very wise. You have a population of 60 million: you cannot compete with mammoths like the US and China.

"And you had a lot of lottery funding which has been criticised, but the results are there and I think it was worthwhile."

The performance of Team GB has added to the sense of anticipation ahead of the 2012 Games in London, and Rogge expects a festival of sport and entertainment.

"We had a very good example with Greece (in 2004)," he said.

"It was a return to the roots, to the country that invented the Olympics. London should be the return to the country which invented modern sport. There is fantastic tradition, but also the way of life, the way you approach and play sport."

OLYMPICS BLOG The Chinese have been determined throughout the last two weeks to show they can do sport like the West. And there can be no doubt that the Beijing Olympics have done just that BBC sports editor Mihir Bose

Rogge expects this to be a foretaste of the sporting future.

"We are entering another era of sport," said Rogge.

"And this is going to last for evident reasons: the demography is never going to work against China; their system allows unlimited resources in terms of people and finance for sport; and they are very clever in importing a lot of very knowledgeable foreign trainers.

"In the short and mid-term, the United States will still be dominant in terms of economic power and sport.

"They still have the most number of sponsors, the revenue generated by sport is mainly US-based, so that will last for a time. But it is not the hegemony we had a few years ago."

China have a huge pool of talent to call upon

Rogge is cautiously optimistic about the future, but said the IOC would continue to battle drug cheats every step of the way.

"The tests we have conducted have been negative and I am very glad about that, but time will tell if this is something that will last for the future," he said.

"I said we could have 30 or 40 positive tests, but if we don't reach that number it will prove the deterrent part of our strategy is working.

"Of course it is possible that cheats are getting better, but to be sure that there will be no loophole and that there is not a drug that we cannot trace, we will freeze the samples for eight years."