Latvia heads to the Olympics, not without drama and intrigue

Latvia will be represented by 57 athletes in 11 sports at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, which will take place in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February this year. The support staff will be even bigger - 60 people, including coaches, doctors and management. With limited opportunities to participate in the Olympics, a variety of means are being used to compete for a place on the Olympic team or a quota for a particular discipline.

The Latvian team for the Beijing Olympics will consist of 32 individual athletes and 25 members of the ice hockey team. In Beijing, our athletes will compete in 11 sports, representing six winter sports federations (biathlon, bobsleigh, luge, skeleton, short track, figure skating, speed skating, Nordic combined, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ice hockey). Nordic combined has been added to the team sports, the Latvian Olympic Committee said.

"The results achieved by Latvian athletes during the Olympic season give us the opportunity to be sure that a strong team with leaders in their respective sports is heading to Beijing, a national ice hockey team that will be competing at the Olympic Games for the sixth time," said LOC President Žoržs Tikmers.

Kārlis Lejnieks, Head of the Latvian Olympic Delegation, describing the team, said: "The Latvian Olympic team going to Beijing is young - the average age of the athletes has dropped to 25.5 years, which is younger than at several previous Olympic Games. In addition, 25 athletes will be making their Olympic debut. At the same time, the team's line-up reflects a generational shift in winter sports, with brothers Tomass and Martins Dukurs, Andris and Juris Šics heading to Beijing with five Olympic Games under their belts. For Elīza Tīruma and Oskars Ķibermanis, this will be their third Olympics. Experience and youth are the combination that will surely shape the spirit and strength of the team at these Games, and it will be stimulated by the strength of the families and bloodlines of the Dukurs, Šics, Aparjods, Eiduks, Bondars, Krūzbergs, Bukarts families."

Fighting among cross-country skiers

Latvia's leading biathlete Baiba Bendika shocked the public at the beginning of the week by posting that the Olympic quota allocation in cross-country skiing "favored taking young female athletes on a tour". Bendika had hoped to compete in the 30 km mass start event in cross-country skiing. To get there, the athlete had to fulfil the A qualification criteria for skiing as well as the internal selection criteria developed by the Latvian Ski Federation. According to them, she got a solid second place. However, it was decided to send Patrīcija Eiduka, Kitija Auziņa, Samanta Krampe and Estere Volfa to the cross-country ski slopes of the Beijing Olympics.

"The Latvian Ski Federation decided not to give me the quota I won. I was naively hoping that the sports federation would make a decision based on sportsmanship and their own selection criteria!" B. Bendika shared her bitterness on Facebook.

On Wednesday, cross-country skiers who were fighting for a chance to qualify for the Olympics received some happy news: Latvia has been allocated another quota for cross-country skiing at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and Baiba Bendika has been confirmed as the fifth member of the women's team.

According to LETA, on the evening of January 18, the Latvian Ski Federation (LSF) Board received information that Latvia has been allocated a fifth quota for the women's team after the redistribution of international quotas. At the LSF Board meeting, two candidates were considered - B. Bendika and Annija Keita Sabule. The LSF gave preference to Bendika, giving her the opportunity to compete in the 30 kilometer race, the skiathlon and also in the relay team, if necessary.

There are also disagreements in the men's competition. At the beginning of the week, the Latvian quotas were awarded to the leading male skier Raimo Vīgants and Indulis Bikše, but later it was decided to postpone giving the second quota. According to LETA, LSF board member Jānis Puida explained that Indulis Bikše was not granted a quota for giving false information to the press and undermining the image of the federation. The skier's team is not on good terms with the LSF and, as the newspaper Latvijas Avīze reported this week, the athlete's father and coach Zintis Bikše has consulted the police about recent disagreements on financial matters. "There are concerns that his actions at the Olympic Games will have a negative impact on the team's microclimate, could bring disgrace not only to the LSF but to the Latvian team as a whole, which would undermine Latvia's image as a whole," the LSF spokesman said. The dispute is about the fact that the skier has not received any funding from the federation, although the Madona municipality has transferred four thousand euros to the LSF for four of its athletes, each of whom is entitled to one thousand euros. J. Puida, for his part, told the newspaper that the money was available and was not being spent for other purposes, but that the athlete himself had neither applied for it, nor requested it in advance, nor accounted for the expenses.

I.Bikše told LETA that on Wednesday he found out from the media that he had been excluded from the Olympic Games. "This morning I received an e-mail saying that yesterday they had called an extraordinary meeting of the board, where it was decided to give the quota to the next athlete in the rank, because I had given false information to the media and could create an unfavorable microclimate. There was nothing unwarranted in what I said, everything was true. Even if it wasn't, is that the right reason to take away the quota?" said I. Bikše.

On Thursday, the LSF approved Roberts Slotiņš for the Beijing Olympics instead of Indulis Bikše. Bikše believes that he was well ahead of Slotiņš in qualification.

Athletes are the minority in the Olympic delegation

Along with the 57 athletes, the approved delegation list also includes 43 coaches, four sports doctors and four physiotherapists, while the team management and support staff are travelling to Tokyo with nine people (the athletes are based in three Olympic villages). The national ice hockey team will be finalized on January 24. The Latvian Ski Federation will also name the athletes who have been allocated the available quota in men's cross-country skiing by January 24. Baiba Bendika will compete in two sports - biathlon and cross-country skiing.

Due to restrictions imposed by the Olympic organizers, the Latvian Olympic delegation in Beijing must follow a certain Covid-19 protocol. This requires each member of the Latvian Olympic team to undergo a Covid-19 test 96 and 72 hours before departure, which is repeated at Beijing airport upon arrival. Participants must also undergo daily express tests while in Beijing and must provide daily notes on their well-being on a special app. The person responsible for the Latvian team is the Covid-19 officer and Latvian Olympic Committee doctor Jānis Kaupe.

The Latvian Olympic delegation is fully vaccinated.