Andrejs Apsītis

Andrejs Apsītis was born on the grounds of the Plātere manor in central Latvia. The manor burned down in 1905. Apsītis later worked as a baker. He began his cycling career in 1908 and was then selected for the Russian team at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. He finished in 60th place in the road time trial and was the only one of the 10 Russian competitors who completed the gruelling race over 315 km. For this, he received a Diploma of Merit. In 1913 and 1914, he won the sprint races at the All-Russian Sports Games and in 1913 also the 20 km and placed second in the 5 verst (5.3 km) race.

After winning silver at the 1922 Latvian championships in the 1 km and 5 km track races, Apsītis returned to the international arena as part of the Latvian team in the 4000 m team pursuit at the Paris Olympics in 1924. However, they lost to Poland in round one. In the same year, he competed in the sprint at the World Cycling Championship but had to withdraw in round one. Already over 40 years of age, he became a five times Latvian champion: in the sprint (1930, 1931), road group race (1930, 1931), and track motorcycling. In the competitions, he used a sports bicycle manufactured by the G. Ērenpreiss bicycle factory in Riga, which became the most important bicycle factory in the Baltic states in the 1930s. The company was re-founded in 2010.