Agnis Čavars (born 31 July 1986) is a Latvian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the Latvian 3x3 national team. He represented Latvia at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

and together with

Jeļena Ostapenko Jeļena "Aļona" Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997) is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 5 in singles and No. 4 in doubles by the WTA. Ostapenko has won nine WTA Tour-level singles and eleven doubles tit ...

was delegation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony. Čavars was part of the gold medal winning team that included Nauris Miezis, Kārlis Pauls Lasmanis, and Edgars Krūmiņš, and defeated the Russian Olympic Committee team 21:18 in the gold medal game.

Career

Classic basketball

Before transitioning to 3x3 basketball, Čavars had a career in traditional 5-on-5 basketball, playing as a forward. He spent several seasons in the Latvian Basketball League (LBL), where he represented multiple teams, including ASK/Rīga, Ķeizarmežs, Barons/LMT, Valmiera Glass/VIA, and BK Jelgava. During his time with Barons/LMT, Čavars won the Latvian Basketball League championship in 2010. He also played professionally abroad in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. After moving to 3x3 basketball, Čavars continued playing traditional basketball, competing for BK Ķekava in Latvia's National Basketball League (formerly LBL2). Additionally, he represented Latvia at the U-18 and U-20 European Championships.

3x3 Basketball

Čavars made his mark on the international stage in

3x3 basketball 3x3 basketball (stylized as ''ƐX3'', pronounced ''three-ex-three'') is a Variations of basketball, variation of basketball played three-a-side, with one Backboard (basketball), backboard and in a basketball court, half-court setup. This basketba ...

, representing

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

at the

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. This was the debut of 3x3 basketball at the Olympics. Čavars, along with teammates Nauris Miezis, Kārlis Pauls Lasmanis, and Edgars Krūmiņš, won the gold medal, defeating the

Russian Olympic Committee The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is the National Olympic Committee representing Russia. Its current president during IOC suspension is Mikhail Degtyarev. The membership of ROC is currently suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC ...

team 21:18 in the final. This victory marked Latvia's first Olympic gold medal in nine years and was the first-ever Olympic gold in 3x3 basketball history. Čavars was also one of Latvia's flag bearers at the Olympic opening ceremony, alongside tennis player

. Throughout the tournament, he contributed 28 points over ten games.

References

External links

* * 1986 births Living people 3x3 basketball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Latvian men's basketball players Latvian men's 3x3 basketball players Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Latvia Olympic medalists in 3x3 basketball Olympic 3x3 basketball players for Latvia People from Ķekava Municipality Sportspeople from Vidzeme {{Latvia-basketball-bio-stub