TALLINN - Thirty-nine athletes and 35 auxiliary personnel will make up the Estonian team for the Olympic Games, which take place in Athens Aug. 13 - 29. The team, approved last week by the Estonian Olympic Committee, also lists one spare rowing athlete.
"I definitely expect medals," said Martti Raju, head of the professional sport division of the Estonian Olympic Committee.
According to Raju, there have been both positive and negative surprises in the Estonian Olympic team composition. Estonia will be represented in tennis, judo, cycling, athletics, shooting, Greek-Roman wrestling, sailing, rowing, the triathlon and swimming.
"Some of the wrestling and fencing athletes did not qualify, which is sad. However we have got people in tennis and, after a long break, in women's cycling," said Raju.
At the last summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Estonian athletes won one gold and two bronze medals. In 1996 the medal tally was zilch, but in 1992 Estonia won gold in the women's bicycle sprint (Erika Salumae) and bronze in 470-class sailing (Toomas Toniste).
For Estonian decathlon star Erki Nool, who took gold at the Sydney Olympics, the games in Athens will likely be his last. The athletics team, however, has a number of other well-prepared hopefuls, such as marathon runner Pavel Loskutov and discus throwers Gert Kanter and Aleksander Tammert.
The judo team for Athens has only two Estonian judo pros, Indrek Pertelson and Aleksei Budolin, who both got bronze medals in Sydney.
As for Estonia's men's cycling, the biggest hopes rest with Tour de France participants Jaan Kirsipuu and Janek Tombak.
With regards to the extremely tight security measures in Athens, Raju said those should not be a problem.
"We will have to reserve more time for logistics. Otherwise it will be the same as in Salt Lake City," said Raju.
Estonia's participation in the Olympic Games will cost about 1 million euros, according to preliminary estimates. This year athletes will jump, run and throw not only toward Olympic medals but also toward bigger money bonuses provided by the government.
From this year on, a gold medal will be rewarded with about 77,000 euros, a silver medal with 51,000 euros and a bronze with 35,000 euros. Previously a gold medal would rake in about 64,000 euros for an Estonian athlete but minor rewards were also paid, apart from the medal winners, to athletes who were ranked from fourth to eighth in their event at the Olympics.
Raju said the new system is aimed at stimulating better results.
"Of course, fourth or even eighth place is great, but it's better to reward only the medal winners," he said.
