Estonia Olympic Committee Postal Stationery

Estonia Postal Stationery
Name: 85th Anniversary of the Estonian Olympic Committee
Date of Issue: 08 December 2008

The Estonian Sports Federation (Estonian: Eesti Spordi Liit) decided to form Estonian Olympic Committee in the First Estonian Sport Congress (Estonian: Eesti I Spordikongress) on 30 November 1919, one and a half years after the proclamation of the independence of Estonia, but it was officially founded on 8 December 1923. The first chairman of the committee dr. Karl Friedrich Akel was elected on 5 May 1924. An independent Estonian team took part in the Olympic Games over the period of 1920-36. After the nation was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1940, Estonian athletes competed at the Olympic Games as part of the USSR delegations.

Comment: The person on the illustration is weightlifter Alfred Neuland who was the First Estonian athlete to win an Olympic Gold Medal in Antwerpen in 1920.