5 sportsmen

These are just few of many Latvian great sportsmen. It was really hard to selct only 5 sportsmen as sport is a tough competition and even participation in sport contests is a hard work.So there are many more sportsmen who are worthy to be mentioned.

Janis Lusis (Jānis Lūsis) born 19 May 1939


Latvian (and Soviet) athlete who competed in javelin throw. In 2014 he was inducted into IAAF Hall of Fame.
So far he is the only Latvian athlete to hold full set of Olympic medals(Gold,Silver,Bronze).He set world record in javelin throw twice and is 4-times European champion.
It is interesting to know that wife and son are also javelin throwers.

Uljana Semjonova born 9 March 1952

Standing at 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in)^[3] or taller Semjonova was the leading women's basketball player in the world in the 1970s and 1980s. Wearing a men's size 21 (US) / 58 (EU) shoe, she was known for having the largest feet ever in women's basketball.^[4][5] For almost all of her playing career, she played for TTT Riga, which was part of Daugava Voluntary Sports Society. With TTT, she won 15 championships in the Soviet Union and the European Champion's Cup 15 times. Semjonova was also very dominant in international play, winning two Olympic Gold medals while playing for the USSR in 1976 and 1980 and never lost a game in official international competition.^[2]

The first non-US woman enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame. During the 2007 Latvian sports personality of the year award ceremony, Semjonova received the Lifetime Contribution to Sport award.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uljana_Semjonova

Martins Dukurs

Great Latvian skeleton racer with his 2 Olympic silver medals, 6 World Championship medals(5 Gold,1 Silver) and 9 Gold medals from European Championships.
His older brother Tomass is also a skeleton racer, World and European Championship medalist.

By Ģirts Grīva - [1] [2], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49490317

Viktors Ščerbatihs born 6 October 1974

Former weightlifter with medals from Olympic games, World and European Championships.

After ending his sport career he started a political career.  

Hard worker in sport he is now serving his nation as a politician.

Aļona (Jeļena) Ostapenko born 8 June 1997


Professional tennis player. In 2018 No. 5 according to Women Tennis Association ranking - great result for such a small country as Latvia. Ostapenko won the 2017 French Open singles title, becoming the first player from Latvia to win a Grand Slam tournament and the first unseeded player to win the French Open since 1933.

 By Carine06 from UK - Jelena Ostapenko, CC BY-SA 2.0,

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59753954