Kiiking - a second between heaven and earth

Better than sex, but not as good as narcotics was said out loud by a guy who had just tried an Estonian extreme sport called Kiiking for the first time.

Kiiking is an extreme sport that started off in Estonia in 1997. It's a sport based on simple swinging, but it provides a lot more to both the spectator and the swinger. The swinger stands on a trapeze-like swing and tries to swing over the top bar. The swing can be lengthened to make swinging over the cross bar as difficult as possible. Currently the highest swing that people have really been able to take over the cross bar, is 7m and 1cm. Women's record is 5.91.

After talking to Ado Kosk, the inventor of this weird sport, it turned out that Kiiking is actually nothing new for the crazy Estonians. Allegedly the first sport picture in Estonia was painted already in the

Ado Kosk, the inventor

beginning of the 19th century, and this was a picture about a guy swinging with a wooden swing over the top bar.

However, Kiiking in its current form started in 1997, but since then much has hanged. The swings are now made of metal and more attention is being paid to the safety issues of the sport. The swinger's hands and feet are tied in order to prevent him from getting injured.

Currently this is really an Estonian sport. At the same time also foreign people have tried it out here, but the results haven't been too impressive. Estonians themselves have managed to get listed in the Guiness book of records with the result of 7.01. Finnish record is 5.01, France 4.0, Italy 4.50, USA 5.31, Latvia 4.41. So there's still lots of room for improvement in every side of the sport.

Due to the young age of kiiking and increasingly more competitors, the kiiking results are constantly improving and when also other nations join us, to what great heights young and strong people can take the results. (www.kiiking.ee)

Ado Kosk definitely encourages everyone to have a look and try it out. The Kiiking swing prices start at about 1500 EUROs and the Estonian Kiiking Federation has just gotten ready with 25 new swings and most likely all of them will be sold abroad to popularize the sport all over the world.

Profile of an ideal swinger? It came out that ideal swinger weighs 75-85kg and that's it. The length of a person doesn't really matter according to the inventor. It takes strength and lots of stamina to actually make good results with swinging. Plus you need to have good technics. One can pump for hours and eventually accomplish nothing but a red face Ado Kosk added.

What might the future of Kiiking bring? No one knows, but to grow it needs more publicity in foreign countries. Estonia with just 1.5mln people is not a big enough audience for a sport like that. It needs to grow and to do that it really needs to go across the borders. The current world record is 7m and 1cm. However, in the opinion of the inventor the records could easily go up to 9m and even more. Maybe one day it will be an area for olymics, Who knows?

It is a sport for the true adrenaline enthusiasts who respect the extreme sides of life..Imagine yourself 12 meters high, your eyes staring at the top bar of the swing from above. You have just stopped in that position for couple of seconds and you're about to swing down again any second. Now feel it. It's truly amazing!




Kiiking is an extreme sport that started off in Estonia in 1997. It's a sport based on simple swinging, but it provides a lot more to both the spectator and the swinger. The swinger stands on a trapeze-like swing and tries to swing over the top bar. The swing can be lengthened to make swinging over the cross bar as difficult as possible. Currently the highest swing that people have really been able to take over the cross bar, is 7m and 1cm. Women's record is 5.91.

Politics Saving the Tigers from extinction It was a hurriedly organized citizen’s meeting at Guwahati Press Club, where serious concerns were expressed at the increasing trend of poaching and killing of wildlife in various parts of Assam. more Factzone: The truth about Kim Jong Il 20.Dec 2011 Kim Jong Il, the leader of the free world, has decided to move on to more ferti...read Top 5 Conspiracy Theories Related to John F. Kennedy's Assassination 26.Aug 2011 Since just after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, conspiracy theories abou...read ISRAEL KEEPING GHADDAFI AFLOAT 10.Mar 2011 ...read Glen Beck Is NOT the Anti-Christ! 10.Mar 2011 Hurtful and fiery rhetoric is now media’s default setting! This slippery and m...read Recipe for A REVOLUTION! (10 easy steps - try not to get burned!) THE ASSANGE CASE. CIA INTERFERED WITH SWEDISH LEGAL PROCESSES EXTREME RIGHT POLITICS A DANGER TO EUROPEAN UNITY Opinion The EIP factor - what you should learn from it When we grow older, or get older for the sake of the argument, we tend to start seeing the world only from one side. We tend to believe, no, not believe but know, how things are done. If you are smart, you understand that it shouldn't be that way, you understand this is wrong. more The fight against cyber-censorship 26.Apr 2012 The fight against cybercensorship is more essential than ever. By creating blog...read ET TU, ELAD? or ISRAELIS THINK NETANYAHU IS ON THEIR SIDE 27.Feb 2012 Elad Pressman, to my mind, is Israel's leading deep investigative journalist. T...read World governments charged with criminal negligence (in response to Megaupload case) 22.Jan 2012 EARTH (thecheers.org) - Federal authorities of the universe have charged the go...read The Great OSCARS 2011 – or so it would seem 5.Mar 2011 So, how exciting......a morning off, the Academy Awards. I wish I could say the...read

Travel Teens think life's a box of chocolate, Birdgestone begs to differ 26.Apr 2012 Well, not exactly, but Bridgestone has brought some additional attention to a t...read more Travel Warning 13 September 2010 - DO NOT TRAVEL TO IRAN 13.Sep 2010 TRAVELWISE has been watching the situation in Iran for some months in relation ...read TRAVELWISE TRAVEL ADVISORY 5th June 2010. DO NOT TRAVEL TO ISRAEL. 5.Jun 2010 Given the recent incident whereby the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, used...read TRAVELWISE. 16 APRIL 2010. EUROPEAN TRAVEL ALTERNATIVES 16.Apr 2010 Travelwise issues the following advice in relation to cancelled flights to, fro...read TRAVELWISE 6 APRIL 2010. AUSTRALIAN AIR TRAVEL. THE BEST WAYS TO TRAVEL BY AIR IN AUSTRALIA. 5.Apr 2010 Regular readers might have seen and read the various advisory and no-fly notice...read Sport No Payoff From the Playoffs $16.50 will Get Anyone in the Hall Mr McGwire Stupid Athlete Tricks Technology Pack 'n Go Publishing Taxi Of Tomorrow: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg goes with Nissan Think Big! Think the World's Largest International Trade Show Cheers Jesus' Answering Machine Brown Couch or twelve midgets in the town square How To Be Happy Drugged Out Saturday Nights Muslim Decapitation: Bad, or Simply Misunderstood?