LATVIAN INSTITUTE FACTSHEET NO 17 FEBRUARY 22, 2010

LATVIAN DUKURS WINS SECOND OLYMPIC SILVER

On January 19, Latvian athlete Martins Dukurs (25) won the second silver for in the 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. Dukurs smashed the track record on his first slide. After the two runs in the first day of competition, Dukurs said: “Fast. Crazy fast. This track is amazingly fast. It's so difficult but both my runs were pretty solid. Of course there were mistakes – there are things to fix ”. But of Canada became the Olympic champion in men’s skeleton, stealing the lead from Martins Dukurs in the last run by just 0,07 seconds. Meanwhile, Martins elder brother Tomass Dukurs (28) placed fourth in this race. Both Dukurs brothers are coached by their father, Dainis Dukurs, former bobsleigh brakeman, in bobsleigh and luge track “Sigulda”, Latvia, one of 15 tracks in the world and training base for Latvian and foreign sliders. © DELFIfoto. Photo: Romāns Kokšarovs Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Speaker of the Saeima (parliament) Gundars Daudze have all congratulated Dukurs and praised the hard work of the Dukurs family towards the Olympic silver medal, saying that Latvia was very proud of this achievement. They also wished Dukurs most success and new victories in the future. Latvian lugers Juris Šics and Andris Šics won the first Olympic silver medal for Latvia in luge doubles on Wednesday. It was the second Olympic medal for the Latvians in winter Olympics since the restoration of Latvia’s independence. Luger MārtiĦš Rubenis took home bronze in men’s singles from the previous Games in Torino in 2006. With two silver medals, Latvia currently ranks 18 th on the unofficial medal count of the Vancouver Olympics. Athletes from a total of 26 countries have won medals in these Games so far.

THE LATVIAN INSTITUTE The Latvian Institute (Latvijas institūts) was established by the Latvian state to provide a wide range of information about Latvia, its society, culture and history. Contacts: Elizabetes 57 (6th floor) Rīga, LV – 1050, LATVIA Phone: (+371) 67503663 Fax: (+371) 67503669 Email: [email protected] www: www.li.lv Twitter: www.twitter.com/LatviaInstitute

1