Paul Elvstrom, 1956 Melbourne Games.
Sometimes, great Olympic moments happen before the event begins. Picture this gold-medal pre-event psyche-out that helped legendary Danish sailor Paul Elvstrom win gold at the 1956 Melbourne, Australia summer games:
It's blowing like stink and the entire fleet of Finn sailors are hunkered down on the beach watching wind-whipped waves crash onto the beach. Elvstrom, who took home gold in the previous two Olympics, launches through the pounding surf to practice alone in the howling wind.
The legendary Dane runs through his entire practice routine and heads in to shore -- standing in the transom of his boat. The Finn surfs wave after wave, flying in to land. Then, instead of landing on the beach, Elvstrom, still standing, gybes in front of a wave and heads back out to sea.
As one commentator observed, "the regatta was over before it began."
Carl Eichenlaub, Barcelona Games.
Olympic gold medal moments aren't just for competitors. What sailor (or Olympian, in the pre-doping meaning of the word,) can forget the spirit of U.S. Olympic sailing team mechanic, Carl Eichenlaub, in Barcelona.
In racing at the Spanish games, the womens' 470 from Argentina was nearly totaled in an on-the-water collision. U.S. team tinkerer Eichenlaub -- who was never known for limiting his considerable talents to the U.S. effort -- worked through the night to repair the Argentines' boat. To the astonishment of all competitors in the next morning's pre-start jockeying, not only was the Argentine 470 in the mix, the boat's newly painted patches matched the unscathed parts perfectly.
Lowell North and Peter Barrett, 1968 Acapulco Games.
A mainsail halyard breaking minutes before the start means disaster for any boat, right? With no way to hoist the main to the top of the mast, there's no way to compete, right?
Wrong.
When the halyard snapped with minutes to the gun, North and Barrett unstepped the mast, dropped it onto the boat, lashed the top of the sail to the top of the mast, re-raised the mast and re-rigged the boat. All in the starting area while the other Star-class boats played for position.
Naturally, they went on to win gold.
