Raimonds Bergmanis

Raimonds Bergmanis
Minister of Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 July 2015
Prime Minister	Laimdota Straujuma
Preceded by	Raimonds Vējonis
Personal details
Born	(1966-07-25) 25 July 1966 Pļaviņas, Soviet Union (now Latvia)
Political party	Green Party

Competition record
Strongman
Representing Latvia
World's Strongest Man
Qualified	2001 World's Strongest Man
3rd	2002 World's Strongest Man
World Strongman Challenge
2nd	2003
Arnold Strongman Classic
3rd	2003
3rd	2004
IFSA Strongman World Championships
IFSA European Championships
World Muscle Power Championships
1st	1997
2nd	1998
2nd	1999
Representing Latvia
Men's Weightlifting
European Weightlifting Championships Total
	1997 Rijeka	+108 kg

Raimonds Bergmanis (born 25 July 1966) is a Latvian politician and the current Minister of Defence. He is a former Olympic weightlifter and retired strongman competitor.

Athletic career

Bergmanis reached the finals in the World's Strongest Man contest several times, finishing 3rd in 2002, and 4th in 2003 and 2004. He also competed in the 2001 contest, but was eliminated in the qualifying heats. He won the World Muscle Power Championships in 1997 and has also competed in the Arnold's Strongest Man Contest; his best result was a third place in the 2003 competition.

Bergmanis was part of the Latvian Olympic Weightlifting team, and has set 21 Latvian records. He is a three-time Olympian (1992, 1996 and 2000). In 1992 he carried the Latvian flag at the opening ceremony, the first person to do so since 1936 when independent Latvia last participated at a Summer Olympics.

After the end of his career, Bergmanis worked in Latvian television and presented a number of programs including "Happy Family" and "The Royal jokes tournament" and was commentator for the Latvian Strongman Championships. He was elected as a president of the Latvian Olympic club, and had previously been a board member and vice president. In March 2013, he was elected one of the vice presidents of the Latvian Olympic Committee.

Political career

In 2013 he was elected as one of the vice presidents of the Latvian Olympic Committee. He has worked in the Latvian National Armed Forces.

Bergmanis is a member of the Latvian Green Party, part of the Union of Greens and Farmers political alliance. He was elected to the Latvian parliament in 2014. He became minister of defense in 2015 after his predecessor Raimonds Vējonis was elected President of Latvia.

References

• sports-reference