Born in Käina Parish, his first major international competition was the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics, where he was tenth in the discus throw qualifiers of the competition's inaugural edition. Peetre finished ninth in the shot put final at the 2002 World Junior Championships, having already thrown a national junior record of 17.71 m earlier that year, and also competed in the qualifiers of the discus contest. He improved his best shot put mark to 19.02 m the following year and made his first Olympic appearance at the 2004 Olympic Games.