On 14 January, President of Latvia Egils Levits attended the 2022 Three Stars Award ceremony where he presented the Sports Lifetime Achievement Award to legendary track and field and parasports coach Maija Ukstiņa.
‘Latvians are very athletic overall. We have many great athletes. We enjoy sports and support our athletes. However, coaches are the ones who see the talent, and all the strengths and weaknesses of an athlete. Coaches are the ones who drive athletic excellence, and Maija Ukstiņa has had a deep impact on the development of parasports. Throughout her fifty years of professional career, she has shown that anything is possible. Without her our athletic world would be much smaller,’ President of Latvia Egils Levits said to Maija Ukstiņa as he presented the award.
Maija Ukstiņa started out as a physical education teacher and has been a coach for 50 years. She began coaching para-athletes in 1995. Maija Ukstiņa has been coaching Paralympian Edgars Bergs for more than 20 years. Bergs won bronze in shot put for Latvia during Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games and brought silver back from games in Beijing and Athens. He finished fifth in Tokyo and has had numerous podiums at world and European Championships over the years.
