According
to Peeter Lusmägi, head of Sport for All of the Estonian Olympic Committee, the
Week of Sport has become an important fitness event that people know and
eagerly await.
“The Week of Sport 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 per capita. This year’s slogan ‘Get your laziness vaccine!’ apparently spoke to the population of the country, and I hope we have motivated numerous people to take up regular fitness activities. We have set ourselves a goal of achieving the level of Nordic countries in people’s involvement in fitness activities, but there is still a gap of some twenty percent to cover,” says Lusmägi.
Krisli Melesk, the first Estonian woman to have climbed Mount Everest and a patron of the Week of Sport, says any physical activity is good for you. “Keeping fit has helped me take care of my mental health. This is the most important benefit: sport makes you happy, gives you an adrenaline rush,” Melesk notes.
In addition to Melesk, the ambassadors of the Week of Sport who aimed to inspire people to do fitness were member of the NOC Athletes Commission Saskia Alusalu, TV journalists Hannes Hermaküla, Keili Sükijainen and Reet Linna, musicians Artjom Savitski and Inger as well as the rector of TalTech, Tiit Land.
The most active messengers of the Week of Sport in Estonia were general education schools and kindergartens, with a total of 705 taking part. The most popular event was the charity Relay Race opening the Week of Sport and bringing 11,500 schoolchildren in 28 Estonian cities and villages to stadiums, parks and central city locations. In addition, this year the NOC announced the Week of Sport challenge to motivate people to do some fitness at least 10 times in September. In total, 204,323 participants were registered during the Week of Sport in Estonia, which makes it the largest project promoting fitness and healthy lifestyle choices in the country.
In Estonia, the Sports Week is organized by the Estonian Olympic Committee in collaboration with the association “Sport Kõigile” [Sports for All]. The organization of the Sports Week is supported by the Erasmus+ program, the Ministry of Culture and Coop Eesti. Useful and interesting information about all-year-round fitness activities can be found on the NOC’s web portal www.liigume.ee