Email Print<\/p>\n
Yachting great Paul Elvstrom passes away<\/p>\n
13 Dec 2016<\/p>\n
Paul Elvstrom passes away aged 88<\/p>\n
Olympic yachting great, Paul Elvstr\u00f6m has passed away aged 88 in Hellerup, Denmark \u2013 the place of his birth.<\/p>\n
Over four consecutive Olympic Games he won four gold medals, winning his first aged just 20 years old in the one-man Firefly class. He won gold again in the Finn class in 1952, 1956 and 1960.<\/p>\n
His Olympic streak has only been matched in sailing by Ben Ainslie, who won his fourth gold medal in a row in 2012.<\/p>\n
Mr Ainslie paid tribute on Twitter, writing: “Saddened to hear the legendary Paul Elvstr\u00f6m has passed away. He was an inspiration to pretty much anyone who stepped foot on a sailing boat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside this, Mr Elvstr\u00f6m won eleven world titles in eight different types of boat, including Snipe, Soling, Star, Flying Dutchman and Finn between 1957 and 1974.<\/p>\n
In his last five years of competing, he raced with his daughter Trine Elvstr\u00f6m-Myralf \u2013 they won two European championships and came fourth at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.<\/p>\n
Mr Elvstr\u00f6m retired from Olympic sailing after competing at Seoul as a 60-year-old in 1988, his eighth Games over a 40-year career and was then named Denmark’s sportsman of the century in 1996.<\/p>\n
The Dane also made an impact off the racecourse with a series of books on the racing rules – in a wallet and using diagrams of small plastic boats – became the racing sailor’s bible for several decades. Mr Elvstr\u00f6m also\u00a0applied his skill and intelligence on the racecourse to the design of components that are still used today – the Elvstr\u00f6m self-bailer is still found on Olympic boats and other grand prix boats at the leading edge of the sport.<\/p>\n
The Elvstr\u00f6m Lifejacket was also the first that was designed and produced for active sailors across the world.<\/p>\n
Mr Elvstr\u00f6m also pioneered techniques for hiking and ideas for training for sailing that paved the way for the modern athletic sport. And Elvstr\u00f6m sailmakers – founded in 1954 – is still very much in existence.<\/p>\n
Mr\u00a0Elvstr\u00f6m leaves four daughters as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n
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