Gints Gailitis 1964 - 2011 R.I.P ;(

Pelle Gustafsson · Post by **Pelle Gustafsson** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:02 pm

just talked to dace gailite and she says that gints gailitis just past away. she wants me to post it so every one who knows this wonderful skater/father knows. it´s a BIG loss to slalomskateboarding. R.I.P

Joe Iacovelli · Post by **Joe Iacovelli** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:05 pm

How very sad. He seemed like a really nice guy with a true love for skateboarding. My thoughts are with his family.

Donald Campbell · Post by **Donald Campbell** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:13 pm

if this is no hoax i have to say that i am truly shocked by these more than sad news.
i had gints and gustavs visit our race a few years ago and i have no clue how such
a healthy looking man can pass away all of a sudden.
could you pelle,maybe,clarify/explain what happened.

my condolences go to the whole family of course.
i feel with you gustavs and i never do prayers,but i will do tonight just for you and your father.

Pelle Gustafsson · Post by **Pelle Gustafsson** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:18 pm

he had pneumonia in Dec and he was in hospital twice, but it was ok now
they dont know yet what realy happend....

Robert Gaisek · Post by **Robert Gaisek** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:58 pm

Terrible news..........I´m very sorry to hear this........my thoughts are with his family and friends.

Rob Ashby · Post by **Rob Ashby** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:04 pm

Very sad news, he will be greatly missed by the slalom community.

My sincere condolences to Gustavs and family.

Louis Selby · Post by **Louis Selby** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:38 pm

I'm so sorry to hear this. Very sad news, he will be missed from the slalom scene. My condolences to his family.

Maria Carrasco · Post by **Maria Carrasco** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:58 am

Richy and I are so sorry to hear this news -- really shocking. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. A very sad loss for us all . . .

Paul Price · Post by **Paul Price** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:38 am

Gints drove me to the races in Riga, Latvia on July the 4th 2010 - we also went to pick up his 2 daughters who skated in the races. He really did a lot for the sport of skateboarding in Latvia and made the effort to turn up at a lot of foreign races. We will miss him.

Sj Kalliokoski · Post by **Sj Kalliokoski** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:31 am

This is very sad news and makes one very silent.
I would give condolences to his family from whole small slalom community of Finland, we miss him.

Peter Klang · Post by **Peter Klang** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:12 am

I don´t know what to say, I am shocked. Gints ment more to slalom then most of us. Gints was one of those few guy´s who would work very hard for slalom skateboard without ever asking for anything back, no money, no fame nothing. My deepest respect to you Gints. My deepest condolences to his children, family and freinds, to all of Latvia and to slalom racing. You will truely be missed my friend. R.I.P

Jani Soderhall · Post by **Jani Soderhall** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 10:37 am

This is so sad, so sad. I was deeply saddened to hear that Gints has left us and my thoughts went flickering through the years we've known each other. Gints meant a lot to me. If it wasn't for him I don't think I would still be into slalom these days. His contribution to Slalom! magazine back in the days helped spark a "revival" of slalom in the late 80's and early 90's which kept me motivated for long! Same thing again in the revival of the 2000's. He was back and doing it all again!

Although one of the smaller countries in Europe, Latvia is big within slalom skateboarding. It certainly has the most dense slalom population in the world and with around 10 races per year it's one of the biggest, if not THE biggest skateboard slalom country in the world! It's got an active racer base among all ages. It's all thanks to Gints for making the effort of spreading the stoke, through the hard and persistent effort of putting on races and sessions, dealing with authorities, getting TV and radio coverage, giving Latvia a strong racer base within all age categories, including of course his own children Ana, Eliza, Guntars and Gustavs, whom we've all met and appreciate racing with!

Gints, we'll deeply miss you.

/Jani

Tomas Potucek · Post by **Tomas Potucek** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:48 am

Hard to believe. I met Gints more than 20 years ago. Then we saw each other during this long time many times when slalom and other things put us together. He was very popular here in Czech and had a lot of friends here. All of us will miss him a lot. My deepest condolence to his family. R.I.P.

Jonathan Harms · Post by **Jonathan Harms** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:28 pm

What terribly sad news! I only met Gints once, but I knew of his many contributions to the slalom scene in Latvia. I got the same impression of him that Peter mentioned: a hard-working, humble man who gave a lot and asked for little or nothing in return. My thoughts and prayers are with his family at this sad time.

Jani Soderhall · Post by **Jani Soderhall** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:58 pm

I have posted a photo and an announcement on the front page.
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com

/Jani

Chris Favero · Post by **Chris Favero** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:07 pm

My sincere condolences to the family of gints gailitis.There is no sense,but it is apparent from everyone else's posts,he amassed several lifetimes worth of friends and memories.My heartfelt feelings and prayers go out to his children at this time.
Regards,Cfav

Flavio Badenes · Post by **Flavio Badenes** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:31 pm

This is so sad. I really can't find words to explain how sad I am. Skateboarding has lost a warrior. My condolences to the family. What a loss.

Antonio Saluena · Post by **Antonio Saluena** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:23 pm

I'm so sad to hear that! All my thoughts to his family! Big loss!

Antonio

Sam Gordon · Post by **Sam Gordon** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:44 pm

Very sorry to hear this sad news. Gints' race times were always a measure that I would try to approach. Competition is most exciting when times are close. With Gustav's fast times, the Gailitis family has provided a dynasty of competition and aspiration.

My thoughts and condolences go out to the Gailitis family.

Sam

Carsten Pingel · Post by **Carsten Pingel** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:06 pm

R.I.P

Petr Janousek · Post by **Petr Janousek** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:35 pm

How Tomas Potucek wrote, Gints had come to the races in the Czech Republic each year. The relations between the Czech and Latvian riders are more than friendly. The Czechs and Latvians are preparing summer training camp this year. Gints will be on this camp only in our hearts. We are very sad. My condolences to his family. R.I.P.

HUYNH BACH SAC Frédéric · Post by **HUYNH BACH SAC Frédéric** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:48 pm

Really, really sad new...

Thiago Gardenal · Post by **Thiago Gardenal** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:33 pm

hey brother my condolences, I understand so dificout... For ever you and Latvia peoples have family and place in Brasil. I love LT Brothers. You need I`m here.

See you.
Thiago .

http://thiagoslalomskater.blogspot.com
http://www.pavel-skates.com

Ramón Königshausen · Post by **Ramón Königshausen** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:51 pm

Sad news that really touch my heart. My condolences to the Gailits family and especially Gustavs, who I'm frequently in touch with.

I'm lost for words, this came so unexpected.

/Ramón

Hans Koraeus · Post by **Hans Koraeus** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:18 am

Yes this is a great chock for most of us. Even though it seems he has been living with heart problems all his life. But either way it's hard to believe and grasp when it happens.

I can't remember when I first met him. Seems like he has always been around. And famous also for this reason. He is one of the slalom racers with the most big slalom events under his belt. I just had a quick look at his world ranking racer home page and I see 126 races registered for him since 2003. Not bad at all and this during a periond to be concidered as a very calm slalom period in Gints world.

Latvian slalom scene had not been where it is today if it was not for Gints.

He will be missed. But he will always be remembered and present in our slalom skateboard history.

My condolences to his family.

RIP

Claude Regnier · Post by **Claude Regnier** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:46 am

Extremely saddened by this news. We wish Gustav and the family the best. We have lost a good man here. Obviously a great father as well.

Josef Stefka · Post by **Josef Stefka** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:27 am

I'm sad, very sad. My condolence to his family.
We will miss him. R.I.P. Gints
.

Franco Di Giorgio · Post by **Franco Di Giorgio** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:31 am

Me and my family are very sad for this loss.
How is this possible?
Too bad not being able to meet him again!
so sad at this time we feel close to her family.
my thoughts go out to Ana, Eliza, Guntars and Gustavs
R.I.P.
franco

Michel Dupont · Post by **Michel Dupont** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:31 pm

Gustavs, we are so sad about this terrible news. All our condolences to your whole family.

Dupont family

Guillaume Saint-Criq · Post by **Guillaume Saint-Criq** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:27 pm

This is a really sad news and a big loss for slalom.
We address all our condolences to Gints family and friends.
Sandrine & Guillaume

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:50 am

Horrible news about Gints. Times have been rough the past few years for the last few years. I ahve some video I'd like to post of him celebrating with Janis K. after janis won the Tight Slalom World Championship. You can see what a great slalom host he was.

I helped set one of the World cup courses in Latvia, Gints was always concerned that it be a fair race, not at all concerned about favoring Latvians who did not have many steep hills on which to practice. He always thought talent should be showcased.

Gustavs has become a fast racer, and I used to watch Gints and him practice- Gints was very proud that Gustavs was dedicated and focused. His twin daughters also skated...

He came to Morro Bay to see skateboarding in the USA.. a life long dream for him. A few years later back in Latvia he had a relationship with a woman, a doctor, who... if you can believe it, bore him a second set of twins- twin boys... Who knows, maybe someday they will race together.

His twin daughters (now 14) also lost their Uncle who lived in the same home less than 2 years ago. I am sure their grand mother and grandfather are sad as they always considered him their son.

He did run the longest continuous running slalom scene I think it comes close to nearly 35 years.

I skated with Gints several times in Latvia, he always looked forward to racing, and even built huge ramps and arranged for them to be stored indoors at a public park with. Most of the practice was flatland... not something I personally get a kick out of, but his dedication to slalom was so great I don't think he would have stopped if the courses were Uphill.

He dedicated a huge amount of his time and financial resources to the sport as well as incorporating his family into helping out at events.

I hope his son realizes what his father's dreams meant to Gints and steps up to carry the slalom torch forward. Gints did pull me aside at one park in Latvia after watching his Gustavs blaze a fast special slalom and said......"I think he is a lot faster than me, faster than I ever was...I never expected that, but I am proud of his dedication" and then went on to tell me how well he was doing in the slalom ranking.

Very sad, particularly for his children.

Miguel Marco · Post by **Miguel Marco** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:41 am

The whole Fullbag crew was deeply saddend to hear about Gints suddenly passing away and we would like to offer our deepest and most sincere condolences to the whole Gailitis family, and specially to Gustavs.

Fullbag and Gustavs have been working on his Pro Model which was sheduled to come out later this spring, and knowing now that Gints and him won't enjoy that proud father/son moment together feels soooo weird and sad...

Gustavs Gailitis · Post by **Gustavs Gailitis** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:17 am

It is more than 2 months since my father passed away – as some of you might know we weren’t the closest people in the world and I didn’t knew him much till summer 2005 when he asked if I would like to help a little in a skateboarding event – it was ‘’World Baltic sea cup’’ the first MAIN slalom event since Euros in 1995 and hence then my life was subordinated to slalom skateboarding – I had a chance to know my father better, learn more about what he has done to Latvian skateboarding, what a great person he was, go to many slalom events abroad and meet many great people that were a huge part of his life! With no doubt, those where the greatest moments of my life!

Now, when he has suddenly passed away (He had pneumonia twice,he was in hospital for a while but before feeling 100% healthy he was getting back to his works + he had heart problems and in the morning of 9th February he just didn't woke up although the evening before he sounded quite OK) it is still a big shock for many people and for me there is this strange feeling when you realize how important somebody was when you've lost it. I remember that in 2005 I thought the opposite - that finally we will have common hobby and I will have a time to know my father better...

But nothing has stopped – for these past 2 months we have worked hard to put in order all the things my father was doing and this season will definitely be a transition period and of course there will be some events to honour my father (slalom race, articles, maybe even a book or a movie – it will take a lot of time to arrange all the skateboarding (generally slalom skateboarding) stuff he has collected during his life - I guess only Jani Soderhall might have more mags, stickers, movies, boards etc).

We will try to take slalom skateboarding and skateboarding in general into new level – there are people willing to work hard and this year we will have at least 10 slalom races ( 5 organized by me, 5 by Ainars Jermacenko – check Contest Calendar 2011) – the first two (on April 16th and 23th) will be more like a ‘’warm up’’ for this season, but rest 8 will be a battle for Latvian ranking points. The biggest races this year will be ‘’Gints Gailitis memorial cup’’ (MAIN) in Riga and Priekuli on 18-19th June (two day event, second day will be a part of ‘’Ripo Riga’’ festival) and ‘’Baltic sea cup’’(PRIME) in Liepaja on 23th July just 300 meters from Baltic sea.
Of course we would be happy to see foreign riders also in other races!

Finally, I would like to thank all the people who had been even a small but still a part of my fathers life - he was a great man and he always had great people around him!

Enjoy your life, live healthy and always remember to find a time to spare with your family & friends!

Join the ISSA 25 cone series. One cyber race every second month!

Regular sessions allow newbies to join our community and discover slalom racing.

Gints Gailitis 1964 - 2011 R.I.P ;(

Gints Gailitis 1964 - 2011 R.I.P ;(

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Our Condolences!