The government of Krišjānis Kariņš is pursuing a discriminatory policy against Latvia's senior citizens!

At the end of last year, the paper version of the newspaper Latvijas Avīze printed Ilmārs Stūriška's opinion piece "Clinging to every straw" (Pieķerties pie katra salmiņa), in which the author expressed his indignation at the decision of Yachting Union of Latvia (Latvijas Zēģelētāju savienība) to promote Vita Matīse to the government recognition for winning the first place in the 2021 Raceboard World Championship and at the same time expressed his satisfaction with the decision of the government of Krišjānis Kariņš and the Ministry of Education and Science headed by Anita Muižniece, to reject such an application.

It should be mentioned here that Vita Matīse reached first place in the World Championships at the age of almost half a century. Therefore, the refusal to support the world champion on the grounds of her age must be considered as a discriminatory policy of the government and the Ministry of Education and Science towards senior citizens of Latvia. It seems that not only the management of LTV has been taken over by the cult of youth (replacing Sandra Zviedre and other older LTV employees with "younger versions"), but also the government of Krišjānis Kariņš is announcing a policy of total humiliation towards all older Latvian citizens. If you are over 60, instead of cash support - here, get a pharmacy gift card! If you are close to 50, you are no longer entitled to government recognition in sports.

It should be mentioned here that the 2021 Raceboard World Championship took place in Riga, lake Ķīšezers, from August 16 to 21. The event attracted 64 participants from 13 countries - Germany, France, Latvia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Great Britain, Croatia and Lithuania - as participation in the World Championships is now severely limited by pandemic restrictions in many countries around the world. The men's competition was won by athletes from Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, while the women's podium was occupied by Latvian athletes. Ilona Grīnberga and Helēna Rožkalne finished behind Vita Matīse. It is not only windsurfing that had a limited number of competitors for the 2020 and 2021 World and European Championships. Also at the European Rogaining Championships, which took place in the Baltic States (in August 2020 in Latvia, near Tukums, and in September 2021 in Estonia, in Otepää), where I had the honor to participate, most of the participants were from Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine. This was the specific nature of 2020 and 2021. The biggest problem for many athletes was leaving their own country, not entering Estonia or Latvia. But the rules are the same for everyone! So, this does not cancel the success of Latvian athletes in either rogaining or windsurfing.

Fine! The government of Krišjānis Kariņš and the Ministry of Education and Science, headed by Anita Muižniece, support the cult of youth and pursue a humiliating and discriminatory policy towards Latvia's senior citizens. This is their choice, and the citizens of Latvia will be able to respond to this in this year's Saeima elections. But the shocking part is something else. Latvia's most influential print media, Latvijas Avīze, the majority of whose readers are seniors, chooses as its main spokesperson on sports policy a person who supports the discrimination and humiliation of the older generation by the government of Krišjānis Kariņš and the Ministry of Education and Science headed by Anita Muižniece. Maybe this strategy is the main source of income for the owners of this company.

In my opinion, it would not be a bad thing for those who take it upon themselves to write about sports to raise their qualifications and realize that in very many sports (athletics, swimming, etc.) the cult of youth is dominant, but there are sports (snooker, chess, shooting, sailing, etc.) in which success and world or Olympic titles are possible even after the age of forty. It is therefore inexcusable (and deeply unethical) for a person claiming to be a sports journalist to mock the fact that a 49-year-old Latvian athlete has achieved success at a world championship in a sailing-related sport.