Kārlis Kļava (9 March 1907 – 1941) was a Latvian military

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

and

sports shooter Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

. He placed 23rd in the 25 m rapid fire pistol event at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

. Next year he won that event at the 1937 World Championships, becoming the first Latvian athlete to win a world title, and was selected as Latvian Sportspersonality of the year. After graduating from the Liepāja State Technical College in 1928, Kļava served in the Latvian army. In 1931, he graduated from the Latvian War School, and from 1932 to 1940 he was a lieutenant of the Riga Infantry Regiment. In parallel with his military career, in the late 1930s he studied engineering at the Faculty of Mechanics of the

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

. Kļava died in 1941 in a Soviet

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

.Latvian encyclopedia. Vol. 3. Riga: Valerija Belokonis publishing house. 2005. p. 404. .

References

1907 births 1941 deaths Latvian male sport shooters Olympic shooters for Latvia Shooters at the 1936 Summer Olympics People from Saldus Municipality Latvian people who died in Soviet detention {{Latvia-sportshooting-bio-stub