Ieva "Eva" Kampe (married name Vlahov; born 29 November 1940) is a former Latvian-Australian

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who represented Australia in the long jump at the

1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North ...

. She placed fourth in the event, and also won two medals at the

Australian Athletics Championships The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athle ...

Early life

Kampe was born in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, arriving in Australia after the Second World War as a refugee and settling in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

with her family. Two of her uncles were murdered during the 1940 Soviet occupation of Latvia, while her maternal grandparents were killed during the

Latvian War of Independence The Latvian War of Independence (), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles () or the Latvian War of Liberation (), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invade ...

. Kampe's father, Leo, had been a minister in the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (, or LELB) is a Lutheranism, Lutheran Protestant church in Latvia. Latvia's Lutheran heritage dates back to the Protestant Reformation, Reformation. Both the Nazi and communist regimes persecuted the c ...

, and continued his ministry after arriving in Australia, supported by the

Lutheran Church of Australia The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) is the major Lutheran denomination in Australia and New Zealand. It was created from a merger of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia in 1966 ...

Athletics career

At the 1962 Australian Open Track and Field Championships, held in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, Kampe won a silver medal in the

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Summer Olympics, Olympic multisport that consists of five events: fencing (one-touch épée followed by direct elimination), freestyle swimming, obstacle course racing, Laser pistol (sport), laser pistol shooting, and ...

and a bronze medal in the long jump. Later in the year, she was selected to represent Australia at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, which Perth hosted. Her only event was the long jump, where she was one of four Australian competitors. The Australians took out the first four places, with Pamela Ryan taking gold,

Helen Frith Helen Audrey Ray Frith (born 12 July 1939) is an Australian athlete. She competed in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics, representing her native country in the long jump, high jump and pentathlon. She won silver medals at the 1962 British Empire and C ...

silver, and

Janet Knee Janet may refer to: Names * Janet (given name) Surname * Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table * Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psychologist and psychotherapist * Maurice ...

bronze. Kampe jumped , which was behind Knee's best jump.

Family

Kampe married Len Vlahov, who also represented Australia in athletics at the 1962 Perth Games. Their son,

Andrew Vlahov Andrew Mitchell Vlahov (born 1 April 1969) is an Australian retired professional basketball player. He played his entire eleven-year professional career for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL), with whom he won three ch ...

, became a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player, while a grandson, Griffin Logue, is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kampe, Eva 1940 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games athletes for Australia Australian female long jumpers Australian Lutherans Australian female modern pentathletes Latvian emigrants to Australia Latvian World War II refugees Refugees in Australia Sportswomen from Western Australia Track and field athletes from Western Australia 20th-century Australian sportswomen