written by: Milka Babović, illustrated by: Matija Dražović
The publishing of these picture books was enabled by the Croatian Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee.
ISBN 978–953–7981–04–4, picture book 4
ISBN 978–953–7981–02–0, picture book series
Publisher: POKRET – aktivan i zdrav
Graphic design: Boris Barna
www.malisportasi.net
Proofreading: Jana Sumrak
Editor: Vitomir Spasović
Translated by: Andrea Bagović
Written by: Milka Babović
Print: Printera
Illustrated by: Matija Dražović
Zagreb, 2014.
written by: Milka Babović, illustrated by: Matija Dražović
olympic stories
Paul Elvstrøm was born in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. He lived with his mother and two older brothers in a stone house with a fenced garden, where he used to play. It is in that yard that he learned to walk. The sea was nearby, behind a sandy hill, but his mother strictly forbade him to go out of the garden.
His father always used to take gifts out of his large sailor duffel bag. Just like Santa
Claus! He would first give presents to their mother Inge, and then to the brothers, in the order of their age. What he took out of the bag one day was a little wooden sailboat, the real thing, just like the ones on the pictures in their home, with a mast, ropes and white canvas sails. It had two wheels and a string attached to the bow. Paul “sailed� into the garden right away, tugging the sailboat after him!
The next morning, Paul still refused to separate from his sailboat, and his father took him to the shore. It was the first time ever that Paul saw the sea – it shimmered under
the morning sun, spotted by white sails filled by the wind. Paul’s eyes widened and he just watched... It seemed as if the pictures from the walls at had come alive. At the end of Paul’s first trip to the seaside, he went sailing with his father and their
neighbor Holger. That night, Paul dreamed of the sea, the wind and taut sails... And he went on dreaming about them even when he woke up.
Until then, sailors sat on the edges of the sailboat while sailing, to act as counterweight, especially when going around a buoy. Young Paul Elvstrøm realized there were better ways: he sat on the edge of a large, old, wooden hull. Having fixed nooses made of naval rope to its bottom, he inserted his feet in them.
Thus secured, he thrust his back out of the hull edge. He practiced regularly, and the muscles in his back and legs got stronger. Paul used his invention during regattas. He would stretch over the water as much as he could, until he was sitting with his knees on the edge.
He was winning already at the first school regattas. Even though he was inexperienced in regatta competitions, he responded to all changes before others, as if the sea and the wind had whispered to him what they were about to do.
In London, at the start line, people knew only that the sailboat of the Firefly class, according to the flag, was occupied by a Danish person and that he was an apprentice in a local shipyard. But after his victory, everybody knew his name. And everybody remembered it well, for Paul Elvstrøm won at three consecutive Olympic Games: in
Helsinki in 1952, in Melbourne in 1956, and in Rome in 1960.
He sailed throughout the world. Apart from four gold Olympic medals, the shelves in his workshop were filled with many other awards, medals and trophies. Naturally, the small wooden sailboat, the toy that Paul had been given by his father many years ago, was there as well.
Trine was becoming a good sailor and has proved herself at several competitions. In 1984, when she got a place in the Olympic delegation going to Los Angeles, she was 22.
It was clear that she needed someone – who was the best – as a crew member for her catamaran Tornado, a very fast and very expensive sailboat.
Trine suggested to her father to sail with her. Paul could not refuse. Although 12 years had passed since he last took part in competitive sailing, and although he was already 56, he accepted.
They were and they remain the only duo consisting of a father and a daughter in Olympic sailing. And they were great: they won the fourth place among 40 crews. Four years later, in Seoul in 1988, 26-yearold Trine and her 60-year-old father Paul sailed and successfully finished the Olympic regatta.
Paul Elvstrom 25 February 1928
Paul Elvstrøm, born
The last two times
on 25 February 1928,
(in 1984 in Los Ange-
in Copenhagen, Den-
les and in 1988 in
mark, is not only the
Seoul), he sailed with
best Danish sailor,
his daughter Trine,
but also one of the
also a Danish Olym-
best sailors in the
pic representative.
world. Paul Elvstrøm is one He learned to sail
of only four Olympic
even as a boy. He
sportsmen who have
was the world sailing champion 15 times, in as
competed for 40 years.
many as eight kinds of sailing classes. He was also an innovator: he developed betHe is one of the great men in the history of the
ter sails, improved the navigability of boats and
Olympic Games. He won four consecutive times:
invented many other things that increased the
in 1948 in London, in 1952 in Helsinki, in 1956 in
safety of sailing.
Melbourne and in 1969 in Rome. As a Danish Olympic sportsman, he sailed at eight Olympic
In 1996, he was chosen as Danish Sportsman of the
Games in total.
Century, and in 2007, the International Sailing Federation included him in the Sailing Hall of Fame.
Read the other picture books in the series Olympic Stories...