The Keys ep4 Independent Latvia's return to the Olympic Games
Is sport politics?
Latvia returned to the Olympic stage in 1992, at the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. How was that possible just six months after our independence was recognized?
In January 1991, when our bobsleighers were at the top of their game – in the recent World Cup, Jānis Ķipurs had been crowned the best pilot in the two-man bobsleigh event – Latvian athletes officially withdrew from participation in the USSR championships and national teams. Albertville Olympics were just a year away, but the restored Latvian Olympic Committee could only dream about competing under Latvian flag. The fight for Latvia’s return to the free world of sports had to be fought in the same trenches as its fight for political freedom.
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