Marc Hyman's Blog, page 3
February 19, 2010
Complete Winter Olympics results for Estonia (updated through today)
Here are the results of all of the Winter Olympics events in which Estonia has competed to date. For each event, we present the medalists and all Estonian finishers. Estonian competitors are shown in blue.
Estonian Olympic team results 2010
Estonia has so far captured one medal: the silver medal in the Ladies' 10km Freestyle Cross-Country Skiing event, which was won by Kristina Šmigun-Vähi.
February 17, 2010
Estonian unemployment is still climbing
More Estonian job seekers found themselves without work in the 4th quarter of 2009. According to the Estonian Labor Force Survey conducted by Statistics Estonia, the country's unemployment rate increased to 15.5% and the number of unemployed persons rose to 107,000. Both figures are record highs for the period since 1991.
Estonia's unemployment rate remains the 3rd-highest in Europe, trailing only Latvia (22.8%) and Spain (19.5%). The 4th quarter unemployment rate across the 27-member a
February 15, 2010
Kristina Šmigun-Vähi captures Estonia’s first medal of the 2010 Olympics
Kristina Šmigun-Vähi
Estonia yesterday captured its first medal of the 2010 Olympics. Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, winner of two gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, claimed the silver medal in the women’s 10km freestyle cross-country event. She finished just 6.6 seconds behind gold medal winner Charlotte Kalla of Sweden.
Šmigun-Vähi’s achievement capped a significant comeback for the 32-year-old skier. She had “retired” from cross-country skiing after the 2006-2007 season in order to have a baby. She missed the past two seasons and began training for the Vancouver games only recently.
In other events Estonia has been far less successful. The country has to date participated in five events (men’s and women’s cross country skiing, men’s and women’s biathlon, and pairs figure skating), but Šmigun-Vähi can claim the country’s only competitive performance so far. Estonia will also compete in alpine skiing, ladies’ figure skating, ice dancing, and snowboarding.
The table below presents the top three finishers and all Estonian finishers in each medal event in which Estonia has competed. Estonian athletes are shown in blue.
Cross-Country Skiing – Ladies’ 10 km F (15 Feb)
78 competitors
1 (gold)
Charlotte Kalla (Sweden)
24:58
2 (silver)
Kristina Smigun-Vähi
25:05
3 (bronze)
Marit Bjoergen (Norway)
25:14
58
Tatjana Mannima
28:13
Cross-Country Skiing – Men’s 15 km F (15 Feb)
95 competitors
1 (gold)
Dario Cologna (Switzerland)
33:36
2 (silver)
Pietro Piller Cottrer (Italy)
34:01
3 (bronze)
Lukas Bauer (Czech Republic)
34:12
51
Aivar Rehemaa
36:13
67
Karel Tammjarv
37:38
Figure Skating – Pairs Short Program (14 Feb)
20 competitors
1 (gold)
China
2 (silver)
China
3 (bronze)
Germany
19
Maria Sergejeva & Ilja Glebov
Biathlon – Men’s 10 km Sprint (14 Feb)
87 competitors
1 (gold)
Vincent Jay (France)
2 (silver)
Emil Hegle Svendsen (Norway)
3 (bronze)
Jakov Fak (Croatia)
31
Indrek Tobreluts
48
Kauri Koiv
62
Roland Lessing
Biathlon – Women’s 7.5 km Sprint (13 Feb)
88 competitors
1 (gold)
Anastazia Kuzmina (Slovakia)
2 (silver)
Magdalena Neuner (Germany)
3 (bronze)
Marie Dorin (France)
55
Eveli Saue
64
Kadri Lehtla
83
Kristel Viigipuu
84
Sirli Hanni
Š
Kristina Šmigun-Vähi captures Estonia's first medal of the 2010 Olympics
Kristina Šmigun-Vähi
Estonia yesterday captured its first medal of the 2010 Olympics. Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, winner of two gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, claimed the silver medal in the women's 10km freestyle cross-country event. She finished just 6.6 seconds behind gold medal winner Charlotte Kalla of Sweden.
Šmigun-Vähi's achievement capped a significant comeback for the 32-year-old skier. She had "retired" from cross-country skiing after the 2006-2007 season in order to...
February 14, 2010
Estonian Olympic team gets off to a mixed start
Andrus Veerpalu
The twenty-first Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver are in only their second full day, and Estonia's athletes have not even begun to compete, but away from the ice and the snow the Estonian team has already experienced both a victory and a defeat.
The victory came in the Parade of Nations on Friday, as Estonia caught the eyes of viewers around the world with its smartly designed outfits. An ongoing "Top Opening Ceremony Outfit" poll on the Huffington Post ranks Estonia 6th...
Estonian Olympic team is off to a mixed start
Andrus Veerpalu
The twenty-first Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver are in only their second full day, and Estonia's athletes have not even begun to compete, but away from the ice and the snow the Estonian team has already experienced both a victory and a defeat.
The victory came in the Parade of Nations on Friday, as Estonia caught the eyes of viewers around the world with its smartly designed outfits. An ongoing "Top Opening Ceremony Outfit" poll on the Huffington Post ranks Estonia 6th...
February 1, 2010
Remembering the Tartu Peace Treaty
Estonian War of Independence Victory Column, Tallinn
Much of the global media's attention will no doubt focus on a rather confused groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, but let's pause for a moment to remember that tomorrow, February 2nd, marks 90 years since the signing of the treaty, between Russia and Estonia, that ended the Estonian War of Independence and, for the first time in modern history, legally established the Republic of Estonia as a sovereign state.
Estonia had been a province...
January 30, 2010
The last new Estonian kroon coin?
In the same week that Estonia's ministry of finance announced that the country had completed its application to join the eurozone, the Bank of Estonia released the newest — and perhaps the last — Estonian kroon coin. The silver coin was issued to commemorate the Vancouver Winter Olympics and carries a nominal denomination of 10 kroons.
The eye-catching design is meant to depict "a dynamic stylised image of racing cross-country skiers." While you may or may not be able to discern the skiers in...
January 29, 2010
The Estonian kroon is officially an endangered species
Estonia's determined push to adopt the euro as its legal currency has reached its final stage as the government today approved a convergence program that it believes will pave the way for euro adoption next January. Barring any unforeseen surprises, Estonians will exchange their kroons for euros in less than a year.
The Finance Ministry's report concludes that Estonia has met the requirements for adopting the euro. Known as the Maastricht criteria, these include a cap on government budget...
January 28, 2010
Estonia launches a global movement
The hottest new Estonian export is not a product or a service. It is the deceptively simple idea that, if you make it fun, and create a sufficiently groovy vibe around it, you can mobilize huge numbers of people to clean up massive amounts of illegally-dumped garbage — all in one day. The concept, perhaps better described as a movement, is called Let's Do It!
Estonia first "did it" almost two years ago, effectively demonstrating the concept on the 3rd of May, 2008. The country mobilized...
