In much of the world, the best athletes have already arrived in Tokyo, where the Olympic Games will be opened immediately. Among these athletes are also 33 Latvians who will start in 14 sports. Although Latvians have previously enjoyed medals of various forgings, the representatives of Latvia have not been at the precious metal at the Summer Olympics for nine years.
Since the restoration of Latvia’s independence, our athletes have taken home 16 medals during seven Olympics. In addition, three of them were of the highest forging. Compared to its neighbors Lithuanians and Estonians, Latvia is the second most medal-rich Baltic state. In first place is Lithuania, which has collected 25 medals, six of which have been gold, while Estonia has won 13 medals, including three gold awards.
The very tendency to win medals in recent years has not been positive, because since 2004 Latvia has won fewer and fewer prizes in every game.
In addition, at the last Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Latvian athletes did not reach the podium. One step away from the medals remained two Latvian athletes – heptathlete Laura Ikauniece and weightlifter Rebeka Salsabila Ibrahima (formerly Koha). Both athletes do not participate in the Tokyo Games. Ikauniece has been struggling with injuries for a long time, while only 23-year-old Ibrahim announced the end of her career last year.
As the Tokyo Games were postponed for a year due to the pandemic, the Latvian Summer Olympians have not won medals for nine years.
Our last prizes were won at the 2012 London Games. At that time, Māris Štrombergs became a two-time Olympic champion in BMX cycling, while Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Jānis Šmēdiņš were bronze on the beach volleyball courts.
Four years earlier, in Beijing, Latvian Olympic athletes were able to win a full set of medals. BMX cycling made its debut at the 2008 Olympics, with Stromberg confirming his favorite status, becoming the first BMX Olympic champion of all time.
Maris Strombergs after the finish in the final of the London Olympics
Photo: SCANPIX / REUTERS
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Meanwhile, Ainārs Kovals took the best javelin throw of his career at the athletics stadium, giving 86.64 meters of silver. But Viktor Scherbatich won bronze in weightlifting.
The Olympic Games returned to their homeland in Greece in 2004. These were also Latvia’s all-time rich medal games – four silver awards were won.
One of the biggest surprises in Athens was Vadim Vasilevsky, who was not among the favorites, but still managed to win the Olympic award. In addition, he was the Latvian flag bearer at the opening ceremony. Previously, Latvian flagships had not succeeded in the games, but Vasilevskis managed to break this curse. He is also the current Latvian javelin thrower.
The medals in these games were also won by weightlifter Shcherbatih, gymnast Yevgeny Sapronenko and modern pentathlete athlete Jelena Maluka.
The name of Latvia was also heard at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, as our athletes won a full set of medals. The gymnast Igors Vihrovs won the gold, Aigars Fadejevs the walker won the silver, while the judge Vsevolod Zelonijs won the bronze.
Four more years ago, canoe rower Ivan Klementjev went to silver. It was also the only Atlanta Olympic medal that was transferred to Latvia.
Meanwhile, in the first games after the restoration of Latvia’s independence in 1992, our athletes won three awards. Subraba was won at the Barcelona Games by rower Klementjevs and shooter Afanasijs Kuzmins, while the bronze medal went to cyclist Dainis Ozols.
Looking at the Latvian delegation at the Tokyo Games, it must be concluded that it is the lowest during the last four Summer Olympics.
There was a smaller delegation in 2004, when only 31 athletes represented Latvia in Athens, winning a record number of medals.
Also this year, Latvian athletes are among the medal candidates. One of Latvia’s biggest hopes is the 3×3 basketball national team, where our athletes are ranked second in the Olympic strength. Also, our beach volleyball players have proven before that they are able to win medals in the biggest competitions of the four years. And Latvian tennis players have repeatedly been able to triumph in tournaments of various nationalities.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is scheduled for today at 14.00 Latvian time. LTV1, LTV7 and LSM.lv will be able to watch it live.
The Tokyo Olympics will run until August 8.
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