“Pirita is the Tallinner’s favourite recreation spot with it’s two kilometres of sandy beaches, racing track, velodrome, and boats and sailboats, for hire. The Pirita Yachting Centre has raised whole generations of enthusiastic yachtsmen. One could not picture Tallinn without international sports competitions. Motorcycling competitions at the Pirita-Kose-Kloostrimetsa track, the Rae Cup tournaments in tennis, the Paul Keres memorial tournaments in chess held under the aegis of FIDE, the épée fencing tournaments for the symbolic Sword of Tallinn, the Baltic regatta, etc, have become traditional. In 1980 Tallinn was the venue of the olympic Yachting Regatta. Tallinn has been the home of world champions and olympic winners of different time like Georg Lurich, Kristjan Palusalu, Johannes Kotkas, Ants Antson, Jaan Talks, Allar levandi, Erika Salumäe and others. ”
– M. Mikk, Beautiful Tallinn, Perioodika Publishers, 1991