The Lifetime Achievement Awards for Sport will be awarded to Õnne Pollisinski and Gunnar Paal

11.02.2021
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11.02.2021
Today, on February 11th, the government decided that the Lifetime Achievement Awards for Sport will be awarded to Õnne Pollisinski and Gunnar Paal.

Lifetime Achievement Award winner and swimming coach Õnne Pollisinski has made a long-term contribution as an Estonian underwater sports coach, leader of the relevant sport association, and developer of the sport. She has promoted swimming as a sport for Estonians with special needs. In addition, under Pollisinski's guidance, Estonia has won many medals at title competitions. She was nominated by the Estonian Paralympic Swimming Association, and her nomination was supported by the Estonian Society of Patients with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, the Estonian Underwater Association and the Down Syndrome Association.

Lifetime Achievement Award winner, journalist and sport leader Gunnar Paal will receive the award for his significant contribution as a sports leader and sports journalist. He was one of the managers of the Tallinn Sailing Regatta Press Center for the Moscow Olympic Games and the Secretary General of the Estonian Olympic Committee (EOK) from 1989 to 1997. Currently Paal is an honorary member of the Estonian Olympic Committee. He is a founding member of the Estonian Olympic Academy and has written several works on Estonian sports and the Olympic movement. He was nominated by the Estonian Olympic Academy.

The amount of each Lifetime Achievement Award for Sport is €40 000.

The annual prizes for sport will be awarded to Kelly Sildaru for her gold medals in the Junior World Championships and Winter X Games in slopestyle and volleyball coach Avo Keel taking the Latvian team to the finals of the European Championship. The winners of annual awards also include the following: Urmo Aava, for organising the first WRC Estonia; trainer-of-the-year Anna Levandi; rally driver Ken Torn, for coming in first in the final round of the ERC3 and ERC3 Junior season; and Natalja Inno and Peeter Lusmägi for successful organisation of a sports week.

The amount of each annual prize is €9,600. In the case of a sports team, the prize money will be divided among the team members.

The national culture and sports prizes, along with the national science prizes and the Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann Language Prize, will be awarded on February 23rd, the eve of Estonian Independence Day, in the hall of the Estonian Academy of Sciences.