Thirty years pass since Erika Salumäe iconic olympic medal victory

Erika Salumäe on the podium in Barcelona, July 31 1992.
Erika Salumäe on the podium in Barcelona, July 31 1992. Source: ETV screenshot.

Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the first Olympic medal to have been clinched by an Estonian since the restoration of independence.

While track cyclist Erika Salumäe had already won a medal competing for the Soviet Union, her second medal, Gold in the women's sprint event at the 1992 olympics in Barcelona, was Estonia's first since independence had been restored the previous year.

The event was only slightly marred by the notorious upside-down-flag incident, while Salumäe, Estonian competitors and spectators, plus all those watching on TV, were able to hear the Estonian national anthem at a major sporting event for one of the very first times (the blue-black-white national flag was in fact flown four years earlier, at the Seoul games, an event where Salumäe also clinched a Gold medal).

A short clip below (in Estonian) presented by ERR Sport's Kristjan Kalkun, recounts that day in 1992.

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Editor: Andrew Whyte

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