The website of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee provides information on the history and structure of the LNOC.
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Sport
There are over a hundred different kinds of sports in Lithuania, with the top three most popular sports being basketball, football, track-and-field.
Below you will find the ABC of Lithuanian sports in a nutshell.
A, B, C, D, F, H, K, M. R, S, T, U, W, Y
Jurgis Kairys, a three-time world champion in aerobatic flying, has also won the largest number of series in the World Cup and World Grand Prix. His shows are always a breathtaking event. He was the first in the world to fly under a pedestrian bridge and the first one to repeat the spectacular feat flying wheels-up. This unprecedented flight took place in Kaunas on 2 September 2000.
Besides, Lithuania has been famous for brave pilots from the very beginning of the flight. On 15 July 1933 Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas flew across the Atlantic Ocean, covering a distance of 6,411 kilometres without landing, in 37 hours and 11 minutes. In terms of comparison, their result ranked second in terms of the distance of non-stop flights; although S. Darius and S. Girėnas did not have navigational equipment and flew under unfavorable weather conditions, the flight was one of the most precise in aviation history.
Alpinism
Everest, the highest mountain on Earth, has been conquered by two Lithuanians: Vladas Vitkauskas in 1993 and Saulius Vilius in 2003. Alpinist Vladas Vitkauskas is the first man in the world who has conquered the highest peaks of the world and raised a Lithuanian flag on each of them. In 1993, though fatigued by an exhausting climbing and with frost-bitten toes on both feet after the ascent to Mount Everest and the return to the base camp, he once again ascended – this time to assist others in taking down the body of a dead Nepalese alpinist. For this heroic act he received an award from the CIFP (International Fair Play Committee).
Auto racing
Lithuanian auto-racing fans will remember the year 2007 when Lithuanian Nerijus Naujokaitis turned out to be unbeatable in the top division (D1) of the European Autocross Championship 2007 finishing it with champion’s title. No less important was Martynas Padgurskis’ successful performance at the prestigious European Cross Racing Rally, where he came third.
The autocross became popular in Lithuania after Aurelijus Simaška won the title of the European Champion in 1999 and again in 2001.
The best Lithuanian racer of all times Stasys Brunza is prize winner and champion of many stages at world and European championships and international rallies; he is also the absolute winner of the rally European Tour (1974).
Basketball craze hit the country in 1937 when the Lithuanian men’s national team won the European basketball championship. Lithuania repeated their success by capturing the title again in 1939. The Lithuanian women’s team won the silver medal in 1938 and nearly 60 years later won the European basketball championship in 1997.
During the Soviet period basketball became one of the cornerstones of national identity. The Lithuanian basketball team Žalgiris won the Soviet Union’s championship five times and every final, usually played against CSKA (Central Sports Club of Armed Forces), turned into a game that pitted Lithuania against the Soviet Union. Even seven Lithuanian basketball players, who represented the USSR in international competitions, became Olympic champions: Modestas Paulauskas, Angelė Rupšienė (twice), Vida Beselienė, Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Arvydas Sabonis, Valdemaras Chomičius, Rimas Kurtinaitis. Other six Lithuanians won three Olympic silver medals, and three were awarded bronze medals.
The pre-war traditions were kept alive with Lithuania’s three successive bronze medals at the Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000, and the gold medal at the 2003 European championship (after the break of long 64 years). However, the 2004 Olympics in Athens was a disappointing setback – the Lithuanian national team finished fourth, one step away from the podium. The Lithuanian team redeemed the loss three years later: it won a bronze medal in the 2007 European championship.
Lithuanian basketball clubs – Kauno “Žalgiris” and Vilniaus “Lietuvos rytas” – also have proved equal to the challenge of the strongest European basketball clubs: in 1999 “Žalgiris” became Euroleague champion, and “Lietuvos rytas” won the 2005 ULEB Cup.
The basketball is the most popular sport in Lithuanian, with more than 24 000 people playing basketball, including 10 000 schoolchildren. All this made Lithuania a natural choice as venue for the NBA basketball summer camp “Basketball without borders. Europe 2006”. The most promising young basketball players from European countries were offered basketball classes by NBA players and coaches. Some legendary players, like Arvydas Sabonis or Šarūnas Marčiulionis, have also established their own schools and willingly share their experience with children.
In 2009, Lithuania is going to play host to the European Cadet Championship, while in 2011, it is going to open the doors to the European Men Basketball Championship.
Biathlon
Algimantas Šalna is a gold medal winner at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. Current hopes are with biathlete Diana Rasimovičiūtė, who came 18th at 7.5 km sprint race at the Torino Olympic Games and 11th at the world championship in 2009.
Boxing
Boxing fans still have the achievements of the greatest Lithuanian boxers on their minds – Algirdas Šocikas, Ričardas Tamulis and Danas Pozniakas. D. Pozniakas became the first Olympic champion of Lithuania (in 1968). R. Tamulis, three times European champion, also won a silver Olympic medal. Twice European champion Algirdas Šocikas was not only famous for his perfect boxing technique but also for his courtesy in the ring; for this reason, he was often respectfully referred to as “Gentlemen of the Ring” by his fans and his opponents. In 1993 Algirdas Šocikas was nominated the Lithuanian Laureate of the International Fair Play Committee and the same year he was also the first Lithuanian awarded with a CFIP Fair Play diploma for his impeccable integrity during his sporting career. The new generation of Lithuanian boxers keeps the traditions alive. In 2007, Daugirdas Šemiotas won a bronze medal in the world boxing championship, thus ending the medal drought of twelve years.
Bushido
Bushido fighter Remigijus Morkevičius was the first in the 13 year long history of K-1 bushido tournaments to knock out a contestant in 8 seconds.
Vladas Česiūnas is the champion of the Munich Olympic Games. The most titled Lithuanian flatwater canoeists of these times Alvydas Duonėla and Egidijus Balčiūnas have been world and European champions and prizewinners many times. Other young and talented canoeists are following in their traces: canoeists Tomas Gadeikis and Raimundas Labuckas, Jevgenijus Šuklinas, kayakist Vytautas Vaičikonis.
Chess
Chess has become increasingly popular thanks to Viktorija Čmilytė, the bronze winner in the FIDE World Championship in 2006. No Lithuanian men’s chess player had ever achieved a similar feat. She is also two times European individual women’s chess champion, with consistently high results in international tournaments. In the earlier times, Vladas Mikėnas was the most famous Lithuanian chess player.
Cycling
Lithuanian women cyclists belong to the world cycling elite and have been consistent prize winners in the prestigious bicycle racing events and championships: bronze medallist Diana Žilūtė, Edita Pučinskaitė, world champion, vice-champion and bronze medalist, winner of the Giro d’Italia (twice), world champion Rasa Polikevičiūtė; the growing younger generation also competes successfully, to name but a few: Modesta Vžesniauskaitė, Rasa Leleivytė, Daiva Tušlaitė and others. Gintaras Umaras, the most famous track and road cyclist, is a two times Olympic champion. Cyclist Artūras Kasputis is another Olympic champion. Lithuanian cyclist Simona Krupeckaitė has already started putting up high numbers in the world cycling championships and recently has added gold and two bronze medals won at the World Track Championship 2009 breaking the world record in 500m TT.
The Lithuanian Klaipėda University dancesport formation “Žuvėdra” has proved six times to Europe and the world to be the best Latin-American dancesport team both in Europe and the world. Their perpetual rivals are German dancesport teams.
Dance couple Arūnas Bižokas and Edita Daniūtė who claimed medals of all colours in the European and world championship amateur ballroom dances, rounded off their dancing career with the world championship title in 2006, becoming Blackpool Champions in Amateur Standard in 2007.
Ice dance has been made popular in Lithuania by the excellent performances of Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas. Winners of the European championship bronze medals in figure skating, after more than a decade of competition in ice dancing, they retired and now concentrated on spectacular ice dance shows, contributing to the growing popularity of this beautiful sport. The new dancers Deividas Stagniūnas and Katherine Copely have followed suit: in 2009 European Championship, they were among top 10 pairs of the old continent.
Football
Though football is rated as the most popular game in the world, in Lithuania it comes second after basketball. The 80s were the golden era of Lithuanian football. The legendary Vilniaus “Žalgiris” was reaping victories on the international grass and ten thousands of fans were thronging to see their team in the home arena; two Lithuanian football players – Arvydas Janonis ir Arminas Narbekovas – became Olympic champions with the URSS team, and Viačeslavas Sukristovas won a silver medal in the European championship. Though Lithuanian clubs have not still made major breakthroughs on the international level, a couple of Lithuanian players, such as Edgaras Jankauskas (played for FC Porto in 2003) and Deividas Šemberas (CSKA Moscow) can boast of their UEFA Cup champion titles.
Field Hockey
In Lithuania, field-hockey became popular owing to the presence of its strong women’s team and the achievements of the national team internationally. One of the highest achievements: the bronze medal of the European club championship won by the legendary Šiauliai hockey women team “Šiauliai” in 1995. In 2002, the Lithuanian women national team for the first time won the silver medals in the European Hockey Indoor Championship; in 2009, the silver victory has been repeated by the Lithuanian juniors (under 21).
Lithuanian handball player Aldona Česaitytė Nenėnienė is one of the four Olympic champions in Lithuania. Another Lithuanian handball player Sigita Mažeikaitė-Strečen is an Olympic champion too; in men’s handball, Valdemaras Novickis is an Olympic champion and vice-champion. Though currently the heyday of Lithuanian handball is in the past, not a few top Lithuanian handball players compete in the foreign clubs.
Ice Hockey
With more and more ice rinks appearing in Lithuania, ice hockey popularity increasingly rises to prominence. The hockey capital is, undoubtedly, Elektrėnai, where two NHL players from Lithuania, defenceman Darius Kasparaitis (after his long years in the NHL, he is now playing in the Russian hockey league) and right winger Dainius Zubrus were born, raised and got their first ice-hockey lessons.
Martial arts are becoming increasingly popular in Lithuania. Lithuanian Donatas Imbras is a three times European champion and twice vice-champion in the World Karate Kyokushin Championship in Japan, the motherland of karate.
Modern pentathlon is a sports event consisting of five events; they are epee fencing, pistol shooting, 200 m freestyle swimming, a show jumping course on horseback and a 3 km cross-country run. It is a much effort-consuming sports event which needs a lot of strength, stamina, quick reactions and powers of concentration. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games saw the duo of Edvinas Krungolcas and Andrejus Zadneprovskis (Athen’s vice-champion) take silver and bronze at the same time. 2008 Olympic vice-champion Edvinas Krungolcas was elected best athlete 2008 in Lithuania. The medal collections of both athletes prove to numerous victories in Europe and worldwide. The Lithuanian women pentathletes Laura Asadauskaitė and Donata Rimšaitė have been steadily making their way to the elite of the discipline.
Rowing has long-standing traditions in Lithuania. Birutė Šakickienė and Kristina Poplavskaja won Olympic bronze medals in the double sculls event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Overall, Lithuanian rowers had won even 4 silver and 10 bronze medals. The ideal training and competition venue for rowers is Trakai, a Lithuanian city famous for its breath-taking scenery. The world rowing junior and university championships have already taken place in Trakai, and the FISA World Rowing Masters Regatta is scheduled to be held there in September 2008.
Before the Summer Olympics in Sydney, shooting sports were most likely known only by big fans of this sport. However, after Daina Gudzinevičiūtė scored an Olympic gold medal, this sharpshooter found herself very popular in Lithuania, and even those who had never heard bout this sport got some knowledge of it.
Skiing
It is seldom that winter comes with nippy frost and deep snow in Lithuania, and perhaps this fact explains a lot why Lithuania does not have strong winter sports traditions and a well-established winter sports school. Nevertheless, Lithuania does have an Olympic cross-country skiing champion – Vida Vencienė – who won a gold medal over 10 km and a bronze over 5 km at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
Strength Athletics
Lithuania can also take pride in its strength athletes. Žydrūnas Savickas, the winner of European competitions and the IFSA Strongman World Championship, lives in Lithuania. He has also won the prestigious Arnold’s Strongest Man six times in a row.
Swimming
Best Lithuanian swimmers are Olympic champions Linas Kačiušytė, Robertas Žulpa and bronze-medal winner Arvydas Juozaitis. Currently, the best and fastest swimmer in Lithuania is Vytautas Janušaitis who has already won silver and bronze medals in the European Swimming Championships. Young and promising athlete Giedrius Titenis reached the surprising 12th place in the 100m Breaststroke Semifinals at the Beijing Olympic Games.
The heyday of the Lithuanian men tennis players goes back to the 60s and 70s of the last century marked by regular victories of Algimantas Saunoris, Rimas Paškevičius and others. Today, women have taken over the relay, the most titled of them being Rūta Paškauskienė, the winner and medalist in several European Mixed Doubles and Doubles championships. Her highest achievement, however, is the title of the European champion in Women’s Singles 2008. It is also the highest achievement for Lithuania in individual match.
Tennis
With tennis gaining popularity in Lithuania, more talented tennis players also tend to appear. The most promising Lithuanian tennis player is Ričardas Berankis who captured the U.S. Open Junior Championship (singles) and triumphed in the Orange Bowl Tennis Championships in 2007. He finished the year by clinching No. 1 ranking and was crowned ITF Junior Boys' World champion.
Track-and-Field
Track-and-field is placed third in terms of popularity in Lithuania, and Lithuanian athletes have had much success recently in some particular track-and-field events. During the whole history of participation of Lithuanian athletes in the Olympic Games they brought home 4 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze medals. One of Lithuania’s most prominent sportsmen Virgilijus Alekna is two-time Olympic, world and European champion as well as bronze medalist in discus throwing. In 2007 he became the 9th sportsman in the world who was named UNESCO Champion for Sport. The title was given in recognition of his achievements, integrity, and contribution to promoting sports in schools and commitment to UNESCO ideals. V. Alekna was four times elected Lithuanian Sportsman of the Year. Lithuania also has another Olympic champion in discus throwing – Romas Ubartas. Lithuanian discus throwers and their achievements do testify to the image of Lithuania as a country of strong men. Another Olympic champion is runner Remigijus Valiulis. It is not only strong athletes that Lithuania can boast of: a successful appearance of sprinter Lina Grinčikaitė at the Beijing Olympic Games is a perfect proof to that. She is the first woman athlete in the Baltics to have reached the prestigious 100m semifinals at the Olympics.
The winner of the longest-ever ultra triathlon route (Mexico, 1998) is also a Lithuanian. In order to win the championship, Vidmantas Urbonas had to lead in the 76 km swimming, 3600 km cycling and 844 km running legs of the championship. In 2006 he challenged himself to crossing the English Channel. However, due to extreme weather conditions and 4 metre high waves, the jury interrupted the swimming. However, he never gives in and takes up new challenges: in 2007 he swam across the Baltic Sea.
In 1965, Rimantas Bagdonas became a world wrestling champion. He is the only Lithuanian with this award. In 2007, after the long period of 42 years, Lithuanian wrestlers came back with medals: Mindaugas Ežerskis, a bronze medal winner in the European championship, finished second in the World Championship Greco-Roman Wrestling and became a world vice-champion, and Valdemaras Venckaitis won a bronze medal; he also was third in the European championship the same year. 2008 opened up a new chapter in Lithuania’s wrestling history: Greco-Roman wrestler Mindaugas Mizgaitis won bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. This has been the highest ever achievement of the Lithuanian wrestlers. In 2009, Lithuania has played host to the European Wrestling Championship, which is another sign of the recognition of the Lithuanian wrestling.
Weightlifting
In Lithuania, this sport discipline is in the first place related with the name of Ramūnas Vyšniauskas, whose medal collection contains European silver and bronze medals.
“Traditions, Honour, Mastership” is the motto of Lithuanian yachtsmen. Due to favourable weather conditions, this elegant sport is cultivated on the western coast of Lithuania, and also in Kaunas and Trakai. One of the most famous yachtsmen is Raimondas Šiugždinis, who sailed to victory in the Laser Radial in 1997 and became a world and European champion. At present one of the best yachtsmen among women is Lithuanian Gintarė Volungevičiūtė, 2006 European Championship silver medallist and 2007 World Championship bronze medallist in the Laser Radial.
This alphabet of sports in Lithuania is by no means exhaustive; as new victories, records and achievements in sports take place nearly everyday, leaving no doubt that some of the winners’ names are and will be Lithuanian!