MADRID – Sir Ben Ainslie, the British former Olympic yachtsman, has been robbed of his Rolex watch at knifepoint in Barcelona.

Sir Ben, 47, who is leading the British Ineos Britannia team in the America’s Cup yacht race, was cornered by a gang and robbed of the timepiece reportedly worth €20,000 (£16,866) on Saturday, Spanish police said.

The theft makes him the latest high-profile victim of gangs who target wealthy tourists wearing expensive watches.

Sir Ben, who won a series of gold medals for yachting for Britain in the Olympics, reported the theft on Monday to police.

A specialised police team which deals with the theft of high-value watches is investigating the theft.

Sir Ben is the latest in a long line of celebrities who have had their high-value watches stolen in Barcelona. In 2022, police said 229 luxury watches had been stolen that year.

One victim was Richard Blair, the son of George Orwell, author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, who had his £16,250 watch stolen within hours of arriving in Barcelona in May 2022.

Later in August the same year, a thief posing as a fan wrenched a watch worth a reported €70,000 (£59,000) from the wrist of the FC Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski as he signed autographs for fans.

The latest robbery further cements Barcelona’s reputation as a city with high pick-pocketing rates.

It came after the America’s Cup, reputedly the world’s oldest international sporting competition, began on 22 August in the Spanish city.