Lithuanian Sports

Sport, in the modern sense of the word, gained popularity after 1918 when the country declared independence. In 1919 the Sports Union was established; the national Olympic Committee was founded five years later. In 1924 Lithuanian sports men (a soccer team and two cyclists) participated for the first time in the Olympic Games in Paris, and subsequently in 1928 in the St Moritz Winter Olympic Games.
Lithuanian sportsmen won international recognition in the 1930s. In 1937 and 1939 the basketball team, with the help of American Lithuanian basketball players won the European championship. From this time on basketball was established as something akin to the national sport of Lithuania.
After the Second World War, Lithuanian basketball players were often among the stars of Soviet basketball. Steponas Butautas, Justinas Lagunavičius and Kazys Petkevičius, playing on the Soviet team, brought back the first silver medals from the Helsinki Olympics. Later, numerous players were awarded gold medals: Modestas Poulauskas in 1976 and 1980; and Valdemaras Chomičius, rimas Kurtinaitis, Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Arvydas Sabonis in 1988 in Seoul.
After regaining independence in 1990, the national basketball team participated in the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics, winning bronze medals. The Kaunas Žalgiris basketball team won the Intercontinental R.V. Jones Cup in 1986 and the European Basketball Cup in 1998, due particularly to the tireless efforts of their coaches, Vladas Garastas and Jonas Kazlauskas.
Women are equally active in basketball. In 1938 in Rome they came second in Europe, and in 1997 they won the European championship in Budapest.
Lithuania’s cyclists were successful in the Seoul Olympics: Gintautas Umaras brought home two gold medals. In women’s cycling in 1998, Diana Žiliūtė became world champion, and Edita Pučinskaitė won the prestigious Tour de France. Laima Zilporytė and Rasa and Jolantan Polikevičiūtė have also joined the ranks of the most promising cyclists in the...

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