Pictured: patrons of European Week of Sport in Estonia. From left to right: chair of European Olympic Committee and Estonian Olympic Committee athletes' commission, discus throw Olympic winner Gerd Kanter, bodybuilding champion and trainer Ott Kiivikas, Nike master trainer Sandra Raju and Nordic combined Olympic bronze winner Allar Levandi
According to Peeter Lusmägi, head of Sport for All of the Estonian Olympic Committee, the number of events and participants is rather impressive. “The Sports Week is held at the same time in all European Union member states, and Estonia stands out as one of the countries to have organized the largest number of events. Combined with the versatility of the events, this allowed all residents of Estonia who prefer an active lifestyle to take part in the EOK Sports Week. Still, there is some room for development. We hope that the fifth Sports Week to be held in the last week of September 2019 will be the time when the number of events breaks the ‘magical’ threshold of one thousand,” Lusmägi said.
The most active participants of the Sports Week in Estonia were general education schools and kindergartens, which initiated the organization of 661 events. Additional activity opportunities were provided, and Sports Week events were held by 119 sports organizations and 82 companies and institutions. In total, 170,048 participations were registered during the Sports Week in Estonia.
The patrons of the Sports Week, who inspire people to be active and set an example, this year were the discus throw Olympic winner Gerd Kanter, Nordic combined Olympic bronze winner Allar Levandi, coach Sandra Raju and bodybuilding champion and trainer Ott Kiivikas, who visited a number of various schools, sports clubs, companies and sports events during the week.
The highlights of the Sports Week were the opening ceremony of the ‘Estonian Health Fair – Move!’ held within the Sports Week 2018, the celebration of the Olympics Day at Sportland’s Kõrvemaa Bikeathon, the Sport for All Day celebrated in Estonia on September 28 for the first time, and the Saturday workout session BeActive Night. Each county also had its own star event spearheaded by regional sports associations. In addition, numerous other events were organized all over Estonia.
The web page of Sports Week 2018 is www.spordinadal.ee. Useful and interesting information about all-year-round fitness activities can be found on NOC’s web page ‘Estonia moves’ www.liigume.ee and Facebook page www.facebook.com/eestimaaliigub.
The European Week of Sport is the initiative of the European Commission, which aims to increase people’s awareness about sports and their amount of physical activity everywhere in the European Union. In Estonia, the Sports Week is organized by the Estonian Olympic Committee in collaboration with the Estonian Sport for All Association. The organization of the Sports Week is supported by the Erasmus+ program, the Ministry of Culture and Coop Eesti.
European Week of Sport 2018 broke records in Estonia
The European Week of Sport organized in Estonia by the Estonian Olympic Committee for the fourth time showed another top result: 890 fitness and activity related events were organized and over 170 thousand participations were registered within eight days, which makes the Sports Week the largest project in Estonia to promote fitness and healthy lifestyle choices.