| 1964 | HP | |
|---|---|---|
| Men's Team | 10th | 50 |
| 50 |
| 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | HP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's 500 metres | sixth | 17th | 14th | 10th | 760 |
| Men's 1500 metres | 24th | 39th | 0.16016 | ||
| 760.16016 |
| 1932 | HP | |
|---|---|---|
| Music | ac | 170.9 |
| 170.9 |
B. 1928-02-25, Kobenhavn, Denmark
Sailing (4 gold)
| 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1968 | 1972 | 1984 | 1988 | HP | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Monotype (Firefly) | gold | 76800 | ||||||||||
| Olympic Monotype (Finn) | gold | gold | gold | |||||||||
| Two-person Keelboat (Star) | fourth | 4000 | ||||||||||
| Three-person Keelboat (Soling) | 13th | 51.2 | ||||||||||
| Two-person Catamaran (Tornado) | fourth | 15th | 4025 | |||||||||
| 84876.2 |
He competed for 40 years, from 1948 to 1988, a record he shares with
Magnus
Konow, Ivan Osiier and
Durward Knowles.
His approach to small-boat sailing, a belief that fitness from land training
was a way to win, revolutionized competitive sailing. The first of his four
gold medals was won at Torbay in 1948 and at Acapulco in 1968 he came fourth
in the Star class.
He realized that hanging over the side of the boat for a longer period than
his opponents gave him an advantage and the only way to achieve this was
through physical fitness. He was also a student of weather lore and relished
the idea of going out on stormy days to learn more about his craft and how
to handle it. He won eleven World Championships in seven different classes
between 1957 and 1974. He wrote several books and in 1954 started a company,
Elvstrøm Sails, with branches throughout the world; he also built
pleasure boats.
Paul Elvström was voted Denmark's Sportsman of the Century in 1996.
There has always been one solo event in sailing history. In '48, this was
still the 'Fire-Fly', from '52 this became the 'Finn'. Elvstrøm must
therefor be credited with four golds in the same event (the solo sailing).
He was fourth in '68 and competed unsuccessfully in '72.
He teamed up with his daughter Inge Trine in the Tornado in 1984, and missed
another medal by 0.70 points. They also competed in 1988.
The International Finn
Organisation has a Web Page about the history of Finn, in which Paul
Elvstrøm plays a big part.
Written 2000-11-28 - last modified 2020-08-07
This page is part of the site "Full Olympians" by Herman De Wael. See here for a full Introduction.