III Baltic Sea Spartakiade

The III International Baltic Sea Spartakiade was carried out on Åland islands, 11 - 12 August 2000

"Good contests and successful arrangements". That is how the organizing secretary of the Åland Sports Association, Per-Johan "Pera" Forsström, sums up the Spartakiade.

Thanks to voluntary efforts and economic aid from the Åland Provincial Government and the B7 organisation that the organizers were able to carry out the contests.

Six of seven B7 islands took part in this year's Spartakiade. Only Öland failed to attend the youngsters' own Island Games 2000.

Athletics, 100 m sprint, 800 m and 1500 m run and 4 x 100 m relay race, as well as a girls' and boys' football tournament were on the Spartakiade plan.

Åland managed a good performance in football, reaching the finals in both the boys' and girls' classes in the Spartakiade. Gotland provided the opposition in both finals.

"It was great fun. Gaining gold was an incredibly strong performance by the boys. The teams had a good standard ..., so they played fantastically good matches ... The boys really deserved their gold medal," says trainer Calle Greiff of Ålands boys" football team.

"They were difficult to play against, but that is what is positive in this tournament. All the islands have different methods of playing, so it's instructive for the boys to be able to try out all the systems of play," says Greiff.

"It was rather a pity that we lost, and nobody was satisfied at being number two. But it was fun playing a tournament on our home ground, and it had been a long time since we played against international opposition, so it has been a great weekend," says Gunilla Ahlqvist, trainer of Ålands girls' football team.

On the athletics side competition was keen. The contests maintained a high standard.

The Åland athletes had a hard time against the other nations in athletics. Two bronze medals were the result of the weekend, after Linda Granberg and Susanna Holmström saved the Åland colours. However, they can be pleased at having achieved many personal records and two third places.

16-year-old Linda Granberg from Finström was the only participant in this year’s Spartakiade to take part in both football and athletics. She trained hard for this event on the home ground. She elected to enter for both these sports and tried to combine them as well as possible, even though the programme clashed at times

After two intensive days she can rejoice at her successes in both sports.

"But it's been a great weekend. It's been fun competing against new contestants, and I'm pretty pleased with my efforts. In addition the arrangements have been good, even if information could have been better," says Granberg.

"The Spartakiad has given me a lot. Above all, I have gained some insight into how things work in the Island Games, which I intend to go in for in the future," says Granberg.

"Everyone coped really well, so results were unexpectedly good. I really hope there will be a continuation of these arrangements, as it has been a good event and will provide an inducement for youngsters of this age," says their leader Gun-Lis Granberg.