In a sport born some 40 years ago in California’s youth culture and appearing for the first time in this summer’s Olympics, Latvia’s Māris Štrombergs has won the gold medal in men’s BMX cycling. He outpaced two American challengers in the Aug. 22 final at the Laoshan Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX) Venue in Beijing.

The 21-year-old Štrombergs, the reigning world champion in the sport, finished the course in a time of 36.190 seconds, according to results posted on the official Web site of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Mike Day of the United States took silver with a time of 36.606 seconds, while his teammate Donny Robinson won bronze with a time of 36.972 seconds.

The victory is Latvia’s second medal of the Beijing Games. Weightlifter Viktors Ščerbatihs won a bronze medal Aug. 19. Štrombergs’ medal also is only the second gold won by an athlete from independent Latvia. During the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Igors Vihrovs won a gold medal in floor exercise.

Latvian BMX cyclist Artūrs Matisons finished seventh in his Aug. 22 semifinal run and so did not advance to the final or medal run. Ivo Lakučs finished eighth in his quarterfinal run and did not advance to the semifinals.

Štrombergs, according to state law, is in line for a LVL 100,000 monetary award from the Latvian government for having won a gold medal in the Olympics. Ščerbatihs could get LVL 30,000 for his bronze victory.

Estonian athletes also have won two medals—one gold and one silver. Lithuania, meanwhile, has five—two silvers and three bronzes.

More than 27,800 persons in Canada claimed at least some Latvian ancestry in the 2006 census, a 23 percent increase from five years earlier, according to data prepared by country’s national statistical agency.

However, the number of Canadians whose only ancestry is Latvian dropped almost 12 percentage points during the same period.

Based on a one-in-five sample of Canada’s population, some 7,720 persons reported Latvian as their only ethnic background, while another 20,150 said Latvian was one of their ethnicities, data from the 2006 Canadian census show.

The data on ethnic origin were released in April by Statistics Canada. The numbers are calculated from answers provided by the 20 percent of Canadian residents who completed the so-called “long form” of census questions.

In the 2001 census, a total of 22,610 persons told the census that they have at least some Latvian blood.

Of those, almost 39.3 percent said Latvian was their only ancestry. By comparison, the 2006 census showed single ancestry had dropped to about 27.7 percent of the total.

In the 2006 census, Ontario accounted for 16,630 persons of Latvian descent, or almost 60 percent of the total. While the province remained the place with the most persons of Latvian ancestry, it lost ground from the 2001 census, when Ontario could claim more than 64 percent of total.

British Columbia had the second-highest number of persons with Latvian origins—4,100 (14.7 percent). Alberta had 2,865 (10.2 percent), Quebec had 1,750 (about 6 percent) and Manitoba had 1,320 (4.7 percent).

Alberta’s high ranking may be related to pre-World War II migration. Areas such as Medicine Hat once were home to small communities of Latvian immigrants. Of the persons in Alberta claiming Latvian ancestry, 81.3 percent also claimed at least one other ethnicity. By comparison, overall in Canada, 72.3 percent of those claiming Latvian ancestry also claimed at least one other ethnic origin. In Ontario, just 66 percent claimed multiple ancestries.

Every other province and territory recorded at least some persons of Latvian ancestry. Saskatchewan had 380; Nova Scotia, 375; New Brunswick, 160; Northwest Territories, 150; Newfoundland and Labrador, 65; Yukon Territory, 40; Prince Edward Island, 30; and Nunavut, 10.

More than 200 different ethnicities were reported in the 2006 census, according to Statistics Canada. Persons with Estonian ancestry totaled 23,930, while Lithuanians numbered 46,690.

It won’t be just folks in Latvia going Aug. 22 to their favorite local bridge to light lanterns in honor of Latvia’s 90th anniversary. Latvians in Ireland and Peru will be doing the same, says a Ministry of Defense spokeswoman.

The event, “Gaismas tilti” (Bridges of Light), is being coordinated by the ministry as part of the year-long “Iededzies par Latviju!” project. Across Latvia, residents are invited to go to a bridge at 21:00 hours to light lanterns. The date, Aug. 22, is 90 days before Independence Day, Nov. 18.

In Ireland, the Latvian Association for Latvians in Ireland (Latviešu apvienība latviešiem Īrijā, or LALI) is calling on community members to congregate at 21:00 hours at the Flower Hill Road bridge in Navan, about 50 kilometers northwest of Dublin. Lanterns will be placed on the bridge and participants will hear dedications from “Gaismas tilts” ambassadors, including writer Nora Ikstena, folklorist Ilga Reizniece, director Māra Ķimele, artist Imants Lancmans, stylist Žanna Dubska and conductor Māris Sirmais.

Instructions for making lanterns are available on LALI’s Web site, www.latviesi.org

In Lima, Peru, the small Latvian community will gather to light lanterns at 21:00 hours in Parque República de Letonia, a park in the Miraflores district named for Latvia. President Valdis Zatlers dedicated the park during a May visit to Peru. The park, at Calle Ocharán and the Malecón de Miraflores, overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

About 200 bridges in 146 municipalities in Latvia will be sites for the “Gaismas tilts” event, according to Līga Ivanova, regional media coordinator for the Ministry of Defense. Further information about the event is available by visiting www.lv90.lv.