He won four Olympic gold medals and twenty world titles[3] in a range of classes including Snipe, Soling, Star, Flying Dutchman, Finn, 505, and 5.5 Metre.

[5] Growing up along the Øresund, Elvstrøm quickly became consumed by sailing, which began with crewing in a club fleet of small clinker keelboats.

[5] In his book Elvstrøm Speaks on Yacht Racing he claimed to be ‘word blind’ and could not read or write when he was at school,[5] which may have been due to dyslexia.

Previous automatic bailers would be damaged or destroyed if they met an obstruction, and would let considerable amounts of water in if the boat was moving too slowly.

This technique required great strength and fitness, and so after the 1948 Olympics, in order to improve his physical conditioning in readiness for the 1952 games,[15] Elvstrøm built a training bench with toe-straps in his garage to replicate the sitting-out position in his dinghy.

Displaying a keen marketing mind to go along with his engineering nous, the business grew rapidly and by the 1970s Elvstrøm products were seen on boats all around the world.

[17] It grew out of its premises multiple times, and today, Elvstrøm Sails is based in Aabenraa in the south of Denmark.

In 2009 he sailed his Dragonfly trimaran — solo — to visit his daughter Gitte and her family on the east coast of Sweden, 600 miles from his home.

"[10] Elvstrøm competed in eight Olympic Games from 1948 to 1988, being one of only nine persons ever (the others are sailor Ben Ainslie, swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, wrestlers Kaori Icho and Mijaín López, speed skater Ireen Wüst and athletes Carl Lewis in the long jump and Al Oerter in the discus) to win four consecutive individual gold medals (1948–60), first time in a Firefly, subsequently in Finns.

[21] He is one of only five athletes who have competed in the Olympics over a span of 40 years, along with fencer Ivan Joseph Martin Osiier, sailors Magnus Konow and Durward Knowles and showjumper Ian Millar.

[22] Elvstrøm won medals at the world championships: Finn, 505, Snipe, Flying Dutchman, 5.5 Metre, Star, Soling, Tornado, and Half Ton.