Latvia at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Latvia competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom from July 27 to August 12, 2012. This was the nation's tenth appearance at the Summer Olympics.

Latvia at the 2012 Summer Olympics
IOC code	LAT
NOC	Latvian Olympic Committee
Website	www.olimpiade.lv (in Latvian and English)
in London
Competitors	46 in 12 sports
Flag bearers	Mārtiņš Pļaviņš (opening)[1] Ineta Radēviča (closing)
Medals Ranked 49th	Gold 1 Silver 0 Bronze 1 Total 2
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1924 1928 1932 1936 1948–1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Other related appearances
Russian Empire (1908–1912)  Soviet Union (1952–1988)

The Latvian Olympic Committee sent a total of 46 athletes to the Games, 32 men and 14 women, to compete in 12 sports. Sixteen athletes had competed in Beijing, including silver medalist Ainārs Kovals in the men's javelin throw, and defending Olympic champion Māris Štrombergs in men's BMX cycling. Pistol shooter and Olympic gold medalist Afanasijs Kuzmins, the oldest of the team, at age 65, became the first Latvian athlete to compete in nine Olympic games (including three of his appearances under the Soviet Union), tying the record set by Austria's Hubert Raudaschl. Meanwhile, Jeļena Rubļevska, who won silver in Athens, became the first female modern pentathlete to compete at four Olympics, since the sport's introduction to women in 2000. Among the twelve sports played by the athletes, Latvia marked its Olympic debut in table tennis.

Latvia left London with only one gold and one bronze medal. Māris Štrombergs, who managed to successfully defend his Olympic title in the men's BMX cycling, became the first Latvian athlete to win two Olympic gold medals in the post-Soviet era.^[2] Meanwhile, Mārtiņš Pļaviņš, who became Latvia's flag bearer at the opening ceremony, and his partner Jānis Šmēdiņš won the nation's first-ever Olympic medal in men's beach volleyball.

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Māris Štrombergs	Cycling	Men's BMX	10 August
Bronze	Mārtiņš Pļaviņš Jānis Šmēdiņš	Volleyball	Men's beach volleyball	9 August

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Latvian athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard):^[3][4]

Key

• Note – Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
• Q = Qualified for the next round
• q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
• NR = National record
• N/A = Round not applicable for the event
• Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Dace Lina in women's marathon.

Men

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Ronalds Arājs	100 m	Withdrew due to injury
Dmitrijs Jurkevičs	1500 m	3:41.40	9	—		Did not advance
Igors Kazakēvičs	50 km walk	—						4:06:47	45
Jānis Leitis	400 m	46.41	5	—		Did not advance
Arnis Rumbenieks	20 km walk	—						1:26:26	45
Valērijs Žolnerovičs	Marathon	—						DNF

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Mareks Ārents	Pole vault	5.35	22	Did not advance
Ainārs Kovals	Javelin throw	79.19	17	Did not advance
Zigismunds Sirmais		NM	—	Did not advance
Igors Sokolovs	Hammer throw	72.76	21	Did not advance
Māris Urtāns	Shot put	19.13	27	Did not advance
Vadims Vasiļevskis	Javelin throw	72.81	38	Did not advance

Combined events – Decathlon

Athlete	Event	100 m	LJ	SP	HJ	400 m	110H	DT	PV	JT	1500 m	Final	Rank
Edgars Eriņš	Result	10.99	6.98	13.45	1.93	50.62	15.22	45.10	4.50	57.35	4:35.88	7649	22
	Points	863	809	695	740	786	823	769	760	698	706

Women

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Dace Lina	Marathon	—		2:47:47	98
Poļina Jeļizarova	3000 m steeplechase	9:27.21	4 Q	9:38.56	11
Agnese Pastare	20 km walk	—		1:31:54	24

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Lauma Grīva	Long jump	6.10	28	Did not advance
Līna Mūze	Javelin throw	59.91	13	Did not advance
Sinta Ozoliņa-Kovala		58.86	20	Did not advance
Madara Palameika		60.62	10 q	60.73	8
Ineta Radēviča	Long jump	6.68 DQ	5 q DQ	6.88 DQ	4 DQ

Combined events – Heptathlon

Athlete	Event	100H	HJ	SP	200 m	LJ	JT	800 m	Final	Rank
Aiga Grabuste	Result	13.65	1.77	13.52	DNS	—	—	—	DNF
	Points	1028	941	762	0	—	—	—
Laura Ikauniece	Result	13.71	1.83	12.64	24.16	6.13	51.27	2:12.13	6414	7
	Points	1020	1016	704	965	890	885	934

Canoeing

Main article: Canoeing at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Sprint

Athlete	Event	Heats		Semifinals		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Aleksejs Rumjancevs Krists Straume	Men's K-2 200 m	34.447	5 Q	34.140	5 FB	36.110	11

Qualification Legend: FA = Qualify to final (medal); FB = Qualify to final B (non-medal)

Cycling

Main article: Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Road

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Aleksejs Saramotins	Men's road race	5:46:37	56

BMX

Athlete	Event	Seeding		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Result	Rank
Māris Štrombergs	Men's BMX	38.697	11	8	2 Q	10	3 Q	37.576
Edžus Treimanis		DNF	32	12	2 Q	14	5	Did not advance
Rihards Veide		38.753	13	19	3 q	18	7	Did not advance
Sandra Aleksejeva	Women's BMX	41.752	13	—		19	7	Did not advance

Gymnastics

Main article: Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Artistic

Men

Athlete	Event	Qualification								Final
		Apparatus						Total	Rank	Apparatus						Total	Rank
		F	PH	R	V	PB	HB			F	PH	R	V	PB	HB
Dmitrijs Trefilovs	All-around	12.900	14.233	13.133	14.733	13.533	14.033	82.565	38	Did not advance

Judo

Main article: Judo at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Konstantīns Ovčiņņikovs	Men's −81 kg	Guilheiro (BRA) L 0002–0010	Did not advance
Jevgeņijs Borodavko	Men's −100 kg	Liu (ASA) W 0100–0000	Peters (GER) L 0000–0011	Did not advance

Modern pentathlon

Main article: Modern pentathlon at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Athlete	Event	Fencing (épée one touch)			Swimming (200 m freestyle)			Riding (show jumping)			Combined: shooting/running (10 m air pistol)/(3000 m)			Total points	Final rank
		Results	Rank	MP points	Time	Rank	MP points	Penalties	Rank	MP points	Time	Rank	MP Points
Deniss Čerkovskis	Men's	23–12	4	952	2:10.78	28	1232	224	32	976	10:46.88	13	2416	5576	19
Jeļena Rubļevska	Women's	25–10	1	1000	2:26.93	32	1040	64	16	1136	12:17.22	15	2052	5228	8

Shooting

Main article: Shooting at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Men

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Afanasijs Kuzmins	25 m rapid fire pistol	569	17	Did not advance

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Latvian swimmers have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and potentially 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)):^[5][6]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Uvis Kalniņš	100 m freestyle	49.96	30	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Gabriela Ņikitina	50 m freestyle	26.26	39	Did not advance

Table tennis

Main article: Table tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Latvia has qualified the following players.

Athlete	Event	Preliminary round	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Matīss Burģis	Men's singles	Bye	Hinse (CAN) W 4–3	Smirnov (RUS) L 0–4	Did not advance

Volleyball

Main article: Volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Beach

Athlete	Event	Preliminary round	Standing	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Opposition Score		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Mārtiņš Pļaviņš Jānis Šmēdiņš	Men's	Pool E  Erdmann – Matysik (GER) W 2 – 1 (19–21, 23–21, 15–9)  Hernández – Villafañe (VEN) W 2 – 0 (21–14, 21–16)  Nummerdor – Schuil (NED) W 2 – 0 (21–14, 21–18)	1 Q	Skarlund – Spinnangr (NOR) W 2 – 0 (21–18, 21–16)	Gibb – Rosenthal (USA) W 2 – 1 (19–21, 21–18, 15–11)	Alison – Emanuel (BRA) L 0 – 2 (15–21, 20–22)	Nummerdor – Schuil (NED) W 2 – 1 (19–21, 21–19, 15–11)
Aleksandrs Samoilovs Ruslans Sorokins		Pool D  Fijałek – Prudel (POL) W 2 – 1 (12–21, 21–15, 15–12)  Chiya – Goldschmidt (RSA) W 2 – 0 (21–13, 21–10)  Gibb – Rosenthal (USA) L 0 – 2 (10–21, 16–21)	3 Q	Brink – Reckermann (GER) L 0 – 2 (12–21, 17–21)	Did not advance			9

Weightlifting

Main article: Weightlifting at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Latvia has qualified the following athletes.

Athlete	Event	Snatch		Clean & Jerk		Total	Rank
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Artūrs Plēsnieks	Men's −105 kg	175	10	215	5	390	7

Wrestling

Main article: Wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Latvia has qualified the following quota places.

Key

• VT - Victory by Fall.
• PP - Decision by Points - the loser with technical points.
• PO - Decision by Points - the loser without technical points.

Men's freestyle

Athlete	Event	Qualification	Round of 16	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Repechage 1	Repechage 2	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Armands Zvirbulis	−84 kg	Bye	Díaz (VEN) W 3–1 PP	Gattsiev (BLR) L 1–3 PP	Did not advance				10

Women's freestyle

Athlete	Event	Qualification	Round of 16	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Repechage 1	Repechage 2	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Anastasija Grigorjeva	−63 kg	Bye	Pirozhkova (USA) W 3–1 PP	Battsetseg (MGL) L 0–3 PO	Did not advance				9