Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi), with a population of 1.9 million. The country has a temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Riga. Latvians belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian. Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population; 37.7% of the population speak Russian as their native tongue.
The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, Council of Europe, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea are sometimes referred to as the "Baltic nations", less often and in historical circumstances also as the "Baltic republics", the "Baltic lands", or simply the Baltics.
The Singing Revolution was a series of events from 1987 to 1991 that led to the restoration of independence of the three Soviet-occupied Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania at the end of the Cold War. The term was coined by an Estonian activist and artist, Heinz Valk, in an article published a week after the 10–11 June 1988 spontaneous mass evening singing demonstrations at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds.
The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was de facto one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990.
The Baltic Cup is an international football competition contested by the national teams of the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Sometimes guests from the Northern Europe subregion are also invited: Finland has participated in the event twice, Iceland once, and Faroe Islands made a debut appearance in 2024. Though originally held annually, the competition has been biennial since 2008.
Russians in the Baltic states is a broadly defined subgroup of the Russian diaspora who self-identify as ethnic Russians, or are citizens of Russia, and live in one of the three independent countries — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — primarily the consequences of the USSR's forced population transfers during occupation. As of 2023, there were approximately 887,000 ethnic Russians in the three countries, having declined from ca 1.7 million in 1989, the year of the last census during the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation of the three Baltic countries.
The Baltic Way or Baltic Chain was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning 690 kilometres (430 mi) across the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which at the time were occupied and annexed by the USSR and had a combined population of approximately eight million. The central government in Moscow considered the three Baltic countries constituent republics of the Soviet Union.
The Latvian Legion was a formation of the Nazi German Waffen-SS during World War II. Created in 1943, it consisted primarily of ethnic Latvians. The legion consisted of two divisions of the Waffen-SS: the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, and the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. The 15th Division was administratively subordinated to the VI SS Corps, but operationally it was in reserve or at the disposal of the XXXXIII Army Corps, 16th Army, Army Group North. The 19th Division held out in the Courland Pocket until May 1945, the close of World War II, when it was among the last of Nazi Germany's forces to surrender.
Rietumu Banka–Riga is a Latvian cycling team established in 2002 in order to develop Latvian cyclists to an international level. Its main sponsor is Rietumu Banka. During next year`s former professional riders Jaan Kirsipuu and Arvis Piziks worked as sports directors. It was a UCI Continental team until the end of the 2008 season, when team shifted main focus on XC MTB racing. In 2012 the team is once again registered at UCI level. The most famous riders of the team have been Aleksejs Saramotins, 2015 world time trial champion Vasil Kiryienka, and 2015 UCI America Tour winner Toms Skujiņš.
Erki Pütsep is an Estonian professional road bicycle racer who last rode for the Alpha Baltic–Unitymarathons.com team. He is the three time national road race champion and won the E.O.S. Tallinn GP in 2007. In 2011 he won Baltic Chain Tour, which was held in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
SELL Student Games is a multi-sport event that is open for all university and college students all over the world. The name of the games is according to the first letters of the hosting countries who all in the Baltic Sea precinct – Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – in their respective languages . The principles of the games are that everyone can participate and therefore the event combines top sports and joyful student event. Nowadays the games gather around 1800–2000 students.
Baltic Pride is an annual LGBT+ pride parade rotating in turn between the capitals of the Baltic states; Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. It is held in support of raising issues of tolerance and the rights of the LGBT community and is supported by ILGA-Europe. Since 2009, the main organisers have been Mozaīka, the National LGBT Rights Organization LGL Lithuanian Gay League, and the Estonian LGBT Association.
Ramūnas Navardauskas is a Lithuanian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2022 for Cannondale–Drapac, Bahrain–Merida, Nippo–Delko–One Provence and the Voltas Cycling Team. Following his retirement as a rider, Navardauskas now works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team EF Education–Nippo Development Team.
The 2012 Baltic Chain Tour was the second modern era edition of the Baltic Chain Tour road cycling race. It was held over a period of four days between 21 and 25 May 2013. The race was a part of the 2012 UCI Europe Tour with a race classification of 2.2. General classification was won by Lithuanian cyclist Gediminas Bagdonas.
The 2014 Baltic Chain Tour was the fourth modern edition of the Baltic Chain Tour road cycling race. It was held over a period of five days between 20 and 24 August 2014. The race was a part of the 2014 UCI Europe Tour with a race classification of 2.2. This year the tour coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Baltic Chain, a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989, with approximately two million people joining their hands to form a human chain spanning over 600 kilometres (370 mi) across the three Baltic states.
Andris Vosekalns is a Latvian professional road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Hengxiang Cycling Team. In 2014 he won the Latvian National Road Race Championships.
Andris Smirnovs is a Latvian former professional cyclist.
Martin Laas is an Estonian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Ferei Quick-Panda Podium Mongolia Team.
Māris Bogdanovičs is a Latvian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Hengxiang Cycling Team.
The Voltas–Tartu 2024 by CCN is an Estonian-registered UCI Continental road cycling team founded in 2018. It was called Cycling Tartu in its first 2 years 2018-2019. In 2019 Norman Vahtra got 8 UCI victories and turned pro in Israel Start Up Nation (WT). Cycling Tartu was founded and managed by the former pro rider Rene Mandri. He registerd the team as UCI continental team from 2020 and left the team at the end of 2022 to become one of the assistant Sports Directors in Israel-Premier Tech. The iconic ex-pro and TDF yello jersey Jaan Kirsipuu became the manager of the team and Lithuanian (ex)road race champion Gediminas Bagdonas joined as Sports Director. Cycling Tartu has formed riders like Markus Pajur, Rait Ärm, Madis Mihkels, Aivaras Mikutis and Antti Jussi Juntunen. Siim Kiskonen has been their longtime road captain.
Harijs Japiņš (LAT)
Ants Väravas (EST)(3 wins)
