Farewell to the master of modern sailing. Gone in his sleep is the great Paul Elvstrøm. Born in Copenhagen in 1928, Elvstrøm was one of the greatest Olympic drifters in history. Together with Ben Ainslie, he holds the record for four consecutive Olympic gold medals: he triumphed in London in 1948 in the Firefly class, in 1952 in Helsinki, in ’56 in Melbourne and in ’60 in Rome on the Finn. He took part in the Olympics eight times; in his last two Olympic appearances (’84 and ’88) he competed in the Tornado class together with his daughter Trinne (the only case of a father/daughter pair to have taken part in the Olympic Games).
In addition to his Olympic successes, Paul Elvstrøm has achieved victories in an impressive number of competitions, including 15 World Sailing Championships (in eight different classes including: Soling, Star, Flying Dutchman and Finn) and 8 European Championships. He was also a great “inventor” who was always alert to technological innovations and those in technical clothing. A curiosity? He was the one who invented the vang: before going ashore again, he always disassembled it so that his opponents would not see it. Greatest!
