Aavo Pikkuus (born 23 November 1954) is a retired

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n cyclist. He was part of the that won the 100 km team time trial at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

and

1977 UCI Road World Championships The 1977 UCI Road World Championships took place on 27 August 1977 in San Cristóbal, Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the north ...

and finished second at the world championships in 1975 and 1978. Between 1974 and 1977 Pikkuus won four national (Soviet) titles in the road race. In 1975 he finished third at the multistage

Peace Race The Peace Race (german: Friedensfahrt, cs, Závod míru, sk, Preteky mieru, russian: Велогонка Мира (), pl, Wyścig Pokoju , french: Course de la Paix, it, Corsa della Pace, ro, Cursa Păcii) was an annual multiple stage bicycl ...

. He won that race in 1977 individually and in 1975 and 1977–1979 in the team competition; in 1977 he was leading the race from start to finish. He won the

Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Hou ...

in 1977 and Giro delle Regione in 1978. He retired from cycling in 1981 and for several years successfully competed in auto rally. (For example, he won the 1983

Saaremaa Rally Saaremaa Rally ( et, Saaremaa ralli) is a rally competition which annually takes place in Saare County, Estonia. The rally is part of the Estonian Rally Championship Estonian Rally Championship is the national rally championship in Estonia, hel ...

.) Later he owned a car shop, which burned down in the 1990s. Pikkuus is an honorary member of the Estonian Olympic Committee and was named

Estonian Sportspersonality of the year The Estonian Athlete of the Year ( et, Eesti Aasta Sportlane) is an annual award presented by the Estonian Olympic Committee (''Eesti Olümpiakomitee'', EOK) to one male and one female sportsperson judged to have delivered the best performance o ...

five times (1974–1978). In 2001 he was awarded the Order of the Estonian Red Cross. He is married and has three daughters and a son.

References

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S0516-0008, Aavo Pikkuus

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pikkuus, Aavo 1954 births Living people People from Võru Parish Olympic cyclists of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Cyclists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in cycling Soviet male cyclists Estonian male cyclists UCI Road World Champions (elite men) Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics