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Yachting great Paul Elvstrom passes away
13 Dec 2016
Paul Elvstrom passes away aged 88
Olympic yachting great, Paul Elvström has passed away aged 88 in Hellerup, Denmark – the place of his birth.
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.
His Olympic streak has only been matched in sailing by Ben Ainslie, who won his fourth gold medal in a row in 2012.
Mr Ainslie paid tribute on Twitter, writing: “Saddened to hear the legendary Paul Elvström has passed away. He was an inspiration to pretty much anyone who stepped foot on a sailing boat.”
Alongside this, Mr Elvström won eleven world titles in eight different types of boat, including Snipe, Soling, Star, Flying Dutchman and Finn between 1957 and 1974.
In his last five years of competing, he raced with his daughter Trine Elvström-Myralf – they won two European championships and came fourth at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Mr Elvström 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.
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 Elvström also applied his skill and intelligence on the racecourse to the design of components that are still used today – the Elvström self-bailer is still found on Olympic boats and other grand prix boats at the leading edge of the sport.
The Elvström Lifejacket was also the first that was designed and produced for active sailors across the world.
Mr Elvström also pioneered techniques for hiking and ideas for training for sailing that paved the way for the modern athletic sport. And Elvström sailmakers – founded in 1954 – is still very much in existence.
Mr Elvström leaves four daughters as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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