Three Person Keelboat (Elliott 6m), Women

The Elliott 6 metre class replaced the Yngling, which had been contested in 2004 and 2008, as the Olympic three-person keelboat event. In addition, this event was contested as match racing rather than a series of fleet races. This had also been done in 1992 and 1996 in the three-person keelboat, which was then raced in Soling boats. This event was hampered by calm days and mild winds, which forced the postponement and cancellation of several days racing, and the semi-finals were moved from the Nothe Course to Portland Harbour in search of more wind.

The early favorites were the USA team, which was skippered by 2008 Laser Radial gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe. They made it through the round-robin qualifier but lost in the quarter-finals to the Finnish boat. Meanwhile, Australia had won all 11 of its round-robin races and was seeded first, and continued to win, making it to the final where they faced the Spanish crew of Támara Echegoyen, Sofia Toro, and Angela Pumariega. Spain had given no indications prior to London that they were medal contenders, but had placed third in the round-robin and won both their quarter- and semi-finals. The final best-of-five went all the way, with Spain winning a surprising gold medal, 3-2, as Australia took silver. In the bronze medal match, Finland defeated Russia, 3-1.