| Latvia at the European Games | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | LAT |
| NOC | Latvian Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| Medals |
|
| European Games appearances (overview) | |
Latvia participated at the inaugural edition of the European Games in 2015. [1]
| Latvia at the European Games | |
|---|---|
| | |
| IOC code | LAT |
| NOC | Latvian Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| Medals |
|
| European Games appearances (overview) | |
Latvia participated at the inaugural edition of the European Games in 2015. [1]
| Games | Athletes | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 2015 Baku | 67 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 31 |
 2019 Minsk | 52 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 27 |
| Total | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 31 | |
| Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Volleyball | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Canoe sprint | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Wrestling | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (3 entries) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Medal | Name(s) | Games | Sport | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gold | Martins Plavins Haralds Regza | 2015 Baku |  Beach Volleyball | Men's Beach Volleyball |
 Bronze | Anastasija Grigorjeva | 2015 Baku |  Wrestling | Women's freestyle 63 kg |
| Bronze | Aleksejs Rumjancevs | 2015 Baku |  Canoe sprint | Men's K-1 200 metres |
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the Baltic states; and is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, 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 ethno-linguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian, one of the only two surviving Baltic languages. Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population.
Foreign relations of Latvia are the primary responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Today's Republic of Latvia regards itself as a continuation of the 1918–1940 republic. After the declaration on the restoration of its full independence on August 21, 1991, Latvia became a member of the United Nations on September 17, 1991, and is a signatory to a number of UN organizations and other international agreements. Latvia welcomes further cooperation and integration with NATO, European Union, OECD and other Western organizations. It also seeks more active participation in UN peacekeeping efforts worldwide.
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is largest city in the Baltic states, and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The population of Riga metropolitan area, which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 860,142. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) and lies 1–10 m (3.3–32.8 ft) above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain.
The Latvian language, also known as Lettish, is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken in the Baltic region. It is the language of Latvians and the official language of Latvia as well as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 1.2 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and 100,000 abroad. Altogether, 2 million, or 80% of the population of Latvia, spoke Latvian in the 2000s, before the total number of inhabitants of Latvia slipped to less than 1.9 million in 2022. Of those, around 1.16 million or 62% of Latvia's population used it as their primary language at home, though excluding the Latgale region it is spoken as a native language in villages and towns by over 90% of the population.
Latvians are a Baltic ethnic group and nation native to Latvia and the immediate geographical region, the Baltics. They are occasionally also referred to as Letts, especially in older bibliography. Latvians share a common Latvian language, culture, history and ancestry.
The Latvian Football Federation (LFF) is the governing body of football in Latvia with its headquarters located in the capital Rimi Sports Centre in Riga. Its activities include the organizing of the Latvian football championship, the Latvian First League, the Latvian Second League, as well as lower league championships and the Latvian Football Cup. The federation also manages the Latvia national football team and Latvia women's national football team.
Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, known for sponsorship reasons as Optibet Virslīga since 2019, is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs.
The presence of Muslims in Latvia was first recorded in the 19th century. These Muslims were mainly Tatar and Turkic people who had been taken to Latvia against their will; they included Turkish prisoners of war from the Crimean War and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877.
Latvian passports are issued to citizens of Latvia for identity and international travel purposes. Receiving a valid passport is mandatory from the age of 15, but passports can be requested for younger children if needed for travel and other purposes. A passport is valid for 10 years if the citizen is 20 or older, for 5 years if 5–20 and for 2 years if 0–5 years old. Non-citizen passports, and refugee travel documents, have been issued until 2020. Every Latvian citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card, allows Latvian citizens to travel and to have rights of free movement and rights to reside in any states of the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland.
FK Liepāja is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Daugava Stadium in Liepāja. FK Liepāja plays in the Latvian Higher League. In their first season they finished 4th in the 2014 Latvian Higher League.
The Latvian Land Forces together with the Latvian National Guard form the land warfare branch of the Latvian National Armed Forces. Since 2007, land forces are organized as a fully professional standing army.
The main religion traditionally practiced in Latvia is Christianity. As of 2019, it is the largest religion (68.84%), though only about 7% of the population attends religious services regularly.
The Social Democratic Party "Harmony", also commonly referred to as Harmony (Saskaņa), is a social-democratic political party in Latvia. It was the largest political party in the Saeima, representing the Russian minority of Latvia, before losing all of its parliamentary seats in the 2022 Latvian parliamentary election. It is currently led by Jānis Urbanovičs.
Miss Latvia is a national beauty pageant in Latvia.
The 2015 Latvian Higher League is the 24th season of top-tier football in Latvia. FK Ventspils are the defending champions. The season started on 13 March 2015.
Aminata Savadogo, occasionally known as simply Aminata, is a Latvian singer, songwriter, record producer, and model. She represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Love Injected". She released her debut studio album, Inner Voice, in April 2015.
Supernova is a Latvian music entertainment show created by the Latvian broadcaster, LTV. It is currently used as the Latvian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 the club has been playing in the Virslīga.
Egils Levits is a Latvian politician, lawyer, political scientist and jurist who served as the tenth president of Latvia from 2019 to 2023. He was a member of the European Court of Justice from 2004 to 2019.
The 2016 Latvian Higher League was the 25th season of top-tier football in Latvia. FK Liepāja were the defending champions. The season began on 11 March 2016 and ended on 5 November 2016; the relegation play-offs took place on 9 and 13 November 2016.
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