OREANDA-NEWS. August 17, 2012. There’s a new opportunity to express support for Latvia’s paralympians by posting a special “I Am. I Can” “twibbon” on your Facebook or Twitter portal or a special icon on your Draugiem.lv portal, reported the press-centre of Citadele Bank.

“I would invite everyone to support our paralympians – Aigars, Taiga, Edgars, Liene, Dmitrijs, Rihards, Janis and Andis,” says the Citadele Bank’s board chairman, Guntis Belavskis. “They have invested major work to achieve their results. We can all join together in supporting the, because such support is particularly needed as competitions draw near. Before important events, athletes experience additional tension and worries.”

A photograph of each supporter who has placed a “twibbon” or icon on his or her Draugiem, Facebook or Twitter profile, will be printed on a special flag of fans which we will be presenting to the paralympians before they head off to London. We trust that this will bring success to our athletes. They will bring the fan flag with them to London to show that all of Latvia is standing with them and is keeping its fingers crossed for their success.

When Draugiem.lv users put the “I Am. I Can” icon on their profile, they can add a special greeting to the athletes in the section which focuses on the fan flag. This can be done at any time, including during the Paralympic Games themselves. This will allow the athletes to gain encouragement from Draugiem when they need it so that they can ensure strength and belief in themselves.

In order to state support for Latvia’s paralympians, just find the Citadele Bank profile on the social networks for more information about the movement “You Are. You Can”:
www.draugiem.lv/citadelebanka,
www.facebook.com/bankacitadele,
www.twitter.com/citadele.

The icon on Draugiem can be posted in the fan flag section, and Facebook and Twitter users will find information on the bank’s profile about how to put a “twibbon” on their profile.

Information about the successes of our paralympians will also be posted on the Citadele blog: www.citadele.lv/tuesituvari.

The Paralympic Games will run from August 29 to September 9 in London. Eight athletes from Latvia will represent their country at this global competition. Among them will be Aigars Apinis, who is the reigning Paralympic champion in discus and also won the silver medal in shot put at the games in Beijing in 2008. He also holds two world records.

Also seeking a medal in shot put will be Andis Ozolnieks, who received the bronze medal in the event at the European championships. Debuting in London will be Rihards Snikuss, who will compete in dressage. Dmitrijs Silovs will take part in the long jump, Edgars Klavins will compete in long jump and the 200 metre dash, Janis Plotnieks will be the only Latvian representative in swimming, and Taiga Kantane will compete in shot put and discus. Liene Gruzite has taken part in the Paralympics in the past, and she will be entering the competition in long jump and discus.

In June of this year, the Citadele Bank began a support programme for Latvia’s paralympians which was unprecedented in scope. Our aim was to facilitate the development of paralympic sports in Latvia, to attract ever new differently abled people to sports, and to change public attitudes toward differently abled people and what they can do. The support project involved the “You Are. You Can” movement, and its aim has been to provide support for Latvia’s athletes at the Paralympic Games in London, as well as to encourage courage and daring in society at large.