Atko Viru

Atko-Meeme Viru (7 September 1932 Tallinn – 21 October 2007 Tartu) was an Estonian basketballer, sport personnel, sport scientist biologist and educator.

Early life and education Viru was born in Tallinn on 7 September 1932. In 1955 he graduated from Tartu State University in physical education. Subsequent surveys of the field credit him as one of its founding figures, whose work from the late 1960s onward systematised the study of hormonal responses to acute and chronic exercise. In a 1992 synthesis he proposed a threshold exercise intensity for triggering endocrine responses. His son Mehis Viru, who heads the Laboratory of Sports Physiology at the University of Tartu, co-authored his last monograph.

Death and legacy Viru died in Tartu on 21 October 2007. Since 2009 the University of Tartu Foundation, together with the Estonian Olympic Academy, has awarded the Prof. Atko-Meeme Viru Scholarship to young researchers in movement and sports sciences. 2007: Honorary Citizen of Tartu