Sport in Latvia includes basketball, football, ice hockey, athletics (track), rugby, tennis, cycling, and others.
Latvia is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), its national team has participated in several World Championships and the 1936 Winter Olympic Games.
The Latvian Harijs Mellups was the goaltender for the Soviet Union National team in its first international game in 1948.
In the 1973/1974 season, Dinamo Rīga returned to the Elite League where it stayed until the end of Soviet Union in 1991.
In 1975, Viktor Hatulev of Dinamo Rīga became the first ice hockey player from the Soviet Union drafted by the National Hockey League (NHL) but never had a chance to play, as Soviet players were not allowed to play for foreign teams.
Balderis also played for the Soviet National team, being on the losing side of the Miracle on Ice game in 1980 but winning the World Championships on other occasions (1978, 1979 and 1983).
Thus Balderis became the all-time top scorer among those Soviet ice hockey forwards who played for the national team but had never been awarded the Olympic gold medal.
Samoilovs was the backup goaltender on the gold medal-winning Soviet team at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.
As a new team, they were initially placed in the C Pool (third division) of the World Championships and had to qualify for the higher level competitions.
The first of them was Helmuts Balderis, who came to play in Minnesota North Stars team at the age of 36 in the 1989–90 season.
Sandis Ozoliņš, Artūrs Irbe, Sergejs Žoltoks and Kārlis Skrastiņš have arguably been the most successful ones.
Other Latvian players who have played in NHL include Aleksandrs Kerčs, Grigorijs Panteļejevs, Pēteris Skudra, Viktors Ignatjevs, Herberts Vasiļjevs, Kaspars Astašenko, Raitis Ivanāns, Jānis Sprukts, Harijs Vītoliņš, Mārtiņš Karsums, Oskars Bārtulis, Artūrs Kulda, Kaspars Daugaviņš, Zemgus Girgensons, Kristers Gudļevskis, Ronalds Ķēniņš, Rūdolfs Balcers, Teodors Bļugers and Elvis Merzļikins.
In the 1960 Summer Olympics, four Latvians, Jānis Krūmiņš, Valdis Muižnieks, Cēzars Ozers and Maigonis Valdmanis were a part of the silver medal-winning Soviet team.
He won a European Championship with the Soviet team in 1981 and was recognized as the most valuable player of the tournament, but did not get a chance to play in Olympics, because of the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles which coincided with Valter's best playing years.
Another Latvian, Igors Miglinieks won gold with the Soviet team four years later, in the 1988 Summer Olympics.
After the country regained independence, the most successful tournament for Latvia was the 2001 European Championships when the Latvian team finished in 8th place.
Struggling with injuries, most notably key players Gunta Baško and Anete Jēkabsone-Žogota, Latvia eventually lost and reached 4th place, losing to Belarus.
Most recently Ainārs Kovals with a silver medal in the men's Javelin throw at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Latvian javelin thrower Jānis Lūsis won 1968 Summer Olympics also he is 4 time European champion.
Partnering Natasha Zvereva, she has won two Grand Slam doubles tournaments (1989 French Open and 1991 Wimbledon).
The Latvian team has been participating in Davis Cup since 1993 when it won rights to get promoted to Group II of Europe/Africa zone.
In the Fed Cup, the Latvian team reached World Group II status in 2018, defeating Russia en route.
First time in Europe cycling history one country Latvian BMX Elite Riders (Artūrs Matisons, Ivo Lakučs, Māris Štrombergs Artis Zentiņš) triumphed on European Championships 2006.
Māris Štrombergs was the 2008 and 2010 UCI BMX World champion and a double gold medalist at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and London 2012.
Subsequently, Jānis Baumanis has followed in his footsteps by winning the European Super 1600 championship in 2015 and also races in the top-flight.