Valentīna Eiduka (12 March 1937 - 19 November 2023) was a

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 ...

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

er. She was the coach of several notable Latvian javelin throwers, including

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

medalists

Vadims Vasiļevskis Vadims Vasiļevskis (born 5 January 1982) is a retired Latvian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's javelin throw, won silver at the 2004 Summer Olympics. His personal best t ...

and

Ainārs Kovals Ainārs Kovals (born 21 November 1981) is a Latvian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His personal best throw is 86.64 m. He achieved this at the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the ...

. Her personal best throw is 52.97 metres, achieved in 1964. During her career she became an eight-time

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...

champion in javelin throw. In 2006 and 2008 she was voted the Latvian Coach of the year. In 2008, she also received the fourth rank

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is ''Per aspera ad astra'', meaning "Through hardships towards the ...

. She has been coaching

medalists

and

, as well as the current

junior world record Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr ...

holder Zigismunds Sirmais,

Sinta Ozoliņa-Kovala Sinta Ozoliņa-Kovala (born 26 February 1988) is a Latvian javelin thrower. She was the 2007 European Junior silver medalist. She competed for Latvia at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Career Ozoliņa-Kovala was one of many Latvian jave ...

Inga Kožarenoka Inga Kožarenoka (born 16 March 1982 in Saldus) is a javelin thrower from Latvia. Her personal best throw is 59.97 metres, achieved in June 2005 in Murjani. At the time it became Latvian record. She has been coached by Valentīna Eiduka. She wo ...

. Formerly she also coached

Voldemārs Lūsis Voldemārs Lūsis (born 7 December 1974 in Riga) is a former Latvian Athletics (sport), athlete, who competed in the javelin throw. He is the son of Jānis Lūsis (1939–2020) and Elvīra Ozoliņa. Lūsis finished in eleventh place in 2001 World C ...

, the son of legendary Jānis Lūsis.

References

1937 births Latvian female javelin throwers {{Latvia-athletics-bio-stub