Until now, Latvia has always excelled in the Paralympic Games, winning gold, silver and bronze medals. “Big challenges lie ahead in Tokyo, but always remember that you are a role model for other people,” President Egils Levits told the athletes before the Paralympic Games.
Strong athletes
Latvian athletes will compete in seven sports. Four-time Paralympic Games champion and multiple world champion Aigars Apinis will start in the disc throwing discipline (F52 medical class).
This will be the sixth Paralympic Games for Aigars, but this year he will carry the Latvian flag for the first time.
So far, he has won eight medals at the Paralympic Games, including four gold awards, becoming the most awarded athlete in Latvia.
Diāna Dadzīte, the winner of the 2016 Paralympic Games gold and bronze medal, multiple world and European champion, will compete in the disciplines of javelin and discus (class F55). For Diana, this will be the second Paralympic Games. For European champion and Paralympic medalist Edgars Berg, this will be the fourth Paralympic Games – he will start in the ball-throwing discipline (F35 class). So far, Edgar has won two silver and two bronze medals at the Paralympic Games. This year, the athlete won a gold medal in the European Paralympic Trackball Championship.
Multiple European Parade Champion Richard Snikus with the award-winning horse “King of the Dance” will start in Parade (Grade I, Individual). This year, Richard won three gold medals in an international competition in the Netherlands, in which almost all the strongest competitors took part. The King of the Dance has already traveled to Tokyo, having previously stopped in Poland and Germany, where it will be quarantined before going to another continent. Athlete Ieva Melle will start archery (recurve open). This will be the second Paralympic Games for Eve. In 2016, Ieva became the Latvian champion in archery in both Paralympic and non-disabled archery competitions. At the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she won 8th place individually and 9th place in the mixed team competition.
The Tokyo Paralympic Games will be the first for two athletes. The young athlete Baiba Rorbach will start throwing a club (F32 class). This year, in the European Athletics Championships, Baiba won the third place in the pitching competition, reaching a new personal record. This will also be the first Paralympic Games of his career for the young athlete Yuri Semyonov. He will start swimming (S8, 100 m backstroke). In 2018, he became the European swimming champion in his class. In 2019, he won fourth place in the World Parapathlon Championships, ensuring participation in the Tokyo Paralympic Games. He also won fourth place at the European Championships this year.
Together with the athletes, six coaches, sports doctor Sandra Rozenštoka, physiotherapist Signe Rinkule, as well as support staff will go to Tokyo.
The President: You represent the Paralympic elite
Before going to Tokyo, the Latvian Paralympians received a lot of empowering travel words. “Great challenges await you in Tokyo, but always remember that you are a role model for other people. First, an example of what a person is able to achieve with their determination and perseverance. Secondly, you are an example of what a person can achieve by resisting special difficulties. The fact that you have been chosen as our country’s representatives in these Paralympic Games is in itself a great achievement. This means that you already represent the world’s Paralympic elite, “said President Egils Levits.
The patroness of the Latvian Paralympic Movement is Mrs. Andra Levite. She stressed to athletes that the most important qualities of an athlete are strength and courage. “You accept physical limitations in sports and everyday life. You overcome inappropriate training conditions. You meet internationally required standards to be invited to participate in the Paralympic Games. Now it’s your turn to bring Latvia’s name to the world! We will all sympathize with you! ” said Andra Levite.
The Paralympians were also addressed by Agnis Čavars and Raimonds Elbakjans from the 3 × 3 basketball team who won the Olympic gold medal. The support of Olympic athletes for the Paralympians is particularly important, especially in the light of the recent debate (as acknowledged by the President, Mrs Andra Levite; the ‘untimely debate’) on the importance of Paralympic sport.
A big challenge
“These Paralympic Games will be a great challenge,” says Daiga Dadzīte, President of the Latvian Paralympic Committee. “The restrictions created by Covid-19 significantly hampered the athletes’ training process and the ability to balance their strength in international competitions.
The time of the pandemic marked a greater gap between our training opportunities and those of athletes in many other countries, where sports life did not stop as much as in our country.
These games will be challenging both physically and psychologically. However, we are fighters and determined to invest all our efforts to achieve the best result in the competition of the world’s strongest athletes and to bring Latvia’s name to the world. ”
Paralympic athlete Aigars Apinis agreed that the preparation for these games was difficult, because during the winter it was difficult to find a place for training, so the athlete emphasized the importance of the Paralympic sports center in Riga, the construction of which is still hampered by decision.
164 countries will be represented at the Paralympic Games
In total, 4237 athletes from 164 countries will compete in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. The games will take place from August 24 to September 5. Latvian athletes will participate in the Summer Paralympic Games for the eighth time. Since 2000, Latvia has won 15 medals at the Paralympic Games. This is the best result among the Baltic States and the 49th best result in the world.
The International Paralympic Committee, summarizing the results by the number of medals won by each country, the number of the country’s population and the number of people with disabilities, has analyzed that Latvia ranks first in terms of results after the Rio de Janeiro Summer Paralympic Games in 2016. In total, this year’s Tokyo Paralympic Games program includes 22 sports – archery, badminton, bocce, canoeing, cycling, Paralympic riding, 5-a-side football, goalball, table tennis, taekwondo, judo, powerlifting, rowing, shooting. , seat volleyball, swimming, triathlon, trolley basketball, trolley fencing, trolley rugby, as well as trolley tennis.
With the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021, Tokyo will be the first country in the world to host the Paralympic Games for the second time in history, the first time it took place in Tokyo in 1964.
