Erika Salumäe


Erika Salumäe is an Estonian track bicycle racer who won the first Olympic gold medal for Estonia in fifty-six years after the country regained independence in 1991.
Salumäe was born in Pärnu, Estonia. She trained at VSS Kalev in Tallinn. At the 1983 Summer Universiade she won two gold medals, in the women's sprint and women's 500 m time trial and the silver medal in the women's points race. Salumäe won the gold medal in track cycling at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, competing for the USSR team and in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, competing for Estonia.
At World Championships from 1984 to 1989, she won 2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze. From 1982 to 1989, she set 15 world records and was elected the Best Estonian Athlete in 1983, 1984, 1987–1990, 1992, 1995, and 1996.