In her speech at the "Spordiaasta tähed 2025" gala, Kaljulaid, who was president of Estonia 2016–2021, noted that there had tended to be a one step forward/two steps back situation where small gains get negated by the international sports court tending "to extend the olive branch to the other side," Kaljulaid noted in her speech, which follows in full.

Dear athletes, supporters and all sports fans.

The sports year 2025 will probably be remembered by us at somewhere between 208.18 points and 22.68 seconds.

There are surely also those whose experience is best summed up by 89:75. They are the optimists. The pessimists' score is rather 92:97. But can you do.

For sports leaders, 2025 has been a hard year. There has been an inch-by-inch battle over the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes, and even where narrow victories on points have been achieved, the international sports court has tended to extend the olive branch to the other side. Which, as always, has encouraged the aggressor to take another step forward, as is customary for them to do in the case of concessions. Not in too many disciplines, yet, but still — the only option is to show your place on the track or on the field, because international sports leaders are choosing the path of concessions to the aggressor.

In that case there is nothing else to do but fight and win. And then to find a way to express one's dissatisfaction — the blue-and-yellow color combination here and there is especially well suited to that. Allowing ourselves to be pushed aside would not, in my opinion, be the right choice. Let us demonstrate our defiance, and we do not have to flee or stay away, as then the aggressor has, in a way, gained even more.

But back to the numerology. The next key figure is the number three. You will all have heard of the "three musketeers:" Those who win even without a coach and in rather muddled administrative circumstances? I sometimes fear that if things around us were to get sorted out, the sharp thrusts might not come out so much, from inside the comfort zone. The number two has also been an important number in 2025, though only in combination with others. For example, 20 years, 20 out of 20, 12.

Hopefully in Milano Cortina, we will also have luck with a simple two — and for now, numerology seems to be pointing in that direction. And I do not mean two red flashes, but something else altogether.

One man in 2026 will need only a single flash — in Predazzo. The rest can then be done in more freely chosen attire and relying only on his own legs. We believe that at the right moment the suit will be tight and the feeling fierce.

If the outfit fits well and everything goes as expected, then in Predazzo (location of next February's Winter Olympics — ed.) it may be possible to jump more and farther without the obligation to scramble back onto the track after that exertion, yet still keep the Estonian flag flying high.

Yet as we know all too well, the true measure of sport in Estonia is money. And here, it must be conceded, our best performances are €2 million additional funds for Team Estonia, one million extra to support coaches, and the Estonian people's combined outcome of €7,856, which they achieved in just half a year. The result of the EOK leadership and the leadership of the Ministry of Culture has been delivered and fixed — it cannot be improved on further — yet the people still have a chance to do so. Please overtake us if you can. In any case, Estonian sport would benefit from that.

Dear athletes, thank you for the past year, and no pressure, but let the next year be even better than that. The state gave us 25.97 percent more money to support the top athletes, so accordingly, more medals must be brought back from championship competitions. The Olympic crowd, of course, does not need to worry, because if you multiply Paris's zero by 1.25, the satisfactory result is still the same round figure of zero. Expectations are, of course, a different matter. But where the number of titles was higher, for example European Championship medals, there we do of course expect that 25-percent growth. Luckily, we have the state budget at our disposal. If it were EU funds we were talking about, we would have to pay them back afterward if we failed.

So no worries — leap boldly into the new year, and all will fall into place.

Have a great end to the sports year!

Kersti Kaljulaid, President of the EOK

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