... small contingent of athletes from Lithuania did ... Vir

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The Lithuanian Sports Games Story

• The First Lithuanian National Olympics occurred
  in July 1938. This event commemorated the 20th
  anniversary of the establishment of the
  independence of the Republic of Lithuania
• For 50 years Soviet-occupied Lithuania was
  prevented from holding another National Olympic
  event. It was during this period that Lithuanians
  in Canada organized the First Lithuanian World
  Sports Games in Toronto in 1978. It recognized
  not only the 60th anniversary of the
  establishment Lithuania independence but also the
  40th anniversary of the Lithuanian National
  Olympics.
• In 1983 and 1988, the Second and Third Lithuanian
  World Sports Games were hosted by Lithuanians in
  the United States (Chicago) and Australia
  (Adelaide), respectively. A small contingent of
  athletes from Lithuania did participate in the
  Sports Games held in Australia. Finally, in 1991
  and 1995, the Fourth and Fifth Lithuanian World
  Sports Games were held in an independent Lithuania

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With the restoration of independence in Lithuania
and the re-establishment of the state, wide and
promising opportunities opened up for the
development of sports.The sports administration
system has been reconstructed, and new state and
public sports organizations have been set up.
Lithuanian sportsmen have been granted the right
to participate in the Olympic Games, European and
World Championships, the Universal Games and the
Paraolympic Games. Lithuania has been granted the
opportunity to organize the European and World
Championships of various disciplines of sport.
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There are 78 Olympic and non-Olympic sports
federations in Lithuania, and 96 disciplines of
sports are practised. Lithuanian Union of Sports
Federation was founded in 1993. There are over
800 sports clubs in the country. The most
popular sports are basketball, soccer, cycling,
body-building, track and field athletics, sport
dances and tennis .
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Of the three Baltic states, Lithuania is probably
best known as a sports nation. This is primarily
because of its national basketball teams, which
are consistently among the top three or four in
the world.
Football (Soccer) Basketball has long been No. 1
in Lithuania, but football's increasingly
popular. Lithuania's international matches are
played at Zalgiris Stadium, located just north of
the river in central Vilnius at
Rinktines.Hockey Lithuania doesn't have a
strong hockey system, so most good players go
abroad. To the deep disappointment, and even
embarrassment of many Lithuanians, the nation's
top hockey player, Darius Kasparaitis, plays for
the Russian national team.
Basketball see next page
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Lithuanian basketball is back on top of the
world, well, at least of Europeafter winning the
European Championships for the first time since
the then-dominant Lithuanians won in 1939 and
1937. Lithuanians were favourites for a medal in
2004 Olympics in Athens and they had only one
player who play in the European NBA Championship
at the moment. Since independence, Lithuania has
won three Olympic bronze medals.During Communist
rule, Lithuanians made up the bulk of the
gold-medal-winning Soviet teams, and they
comprised the core of Soviet teams that won the
European Championship eight straight times
starting in 1957.
Many considered Lithuania a chief pioneer of
European basketball before the warat a time when
few countries on the continent paid the sport
much heed.
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The best Lithuanian player,and the only one who
plays in the NBA championship is Arvyidas
Sabonis. Arvyidas Sabonis was born on the 19th De
cember 1964 and hes a former professional
basketball player from Lithuania. Sabonis was
one of the top centers in the world from the
1980s through the early 21st century.
In 1995, he joined the NBA with the Trail Blazers
,and after a lot of matches, he suffered for his
knee and his Achilles tendon.
Then he has married Ingrida Saboniene and now
they have four children.
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Pictures of a great champion!
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• Lithuania national football team is not a strong
  one.Here there are two famous Lithuanians
  football players
  
• Edgaras Jankauskas was born on the 12th of march
  in 1975.He is a Lithuanian professional
  footballer who is currently on loan at Scottish
  Premier League. He is a tall powerful striker who
  particularly enjoys the physical side of the
  game.
• Deividas emberas was born on the 8th of
  September and he is a Lithuanian professional
  footballer currently playing for Russian Premier
  League.

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• Lithuanian athletes have won some medals in the
  Olympics and European World championships,
  Virgilijus Alekna beeing the top one.
  
• Virgilijus Alekna is a famous Lithuanian athlete.
  He won two gold medals in the Summer Olympics.
  Both were in the discus throw. The first was in
  the 2000 games, and the second in the 2004 games.
  He was born on the 13th of February in 1972 in
  Terpeikiai, Kupikis, Lithuania.
• His personal record is 73.88 meters.

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• 2004 Summer Olympics were marked by a scandal
  when Hungarian athlete Robert Fazekas was
  stripped of his gold medal on the Men's discus
  event, because he was positif at a doping exam
  .The gold medal was then awarded to Virgilijus
  Alekna. Alekna was awarded the title of Athlete
  of the Year for 2000.

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• There are several Lithuanian cyclists with high
  achievements in prestigious cycling tours and in
  World championships. Lithuanian women cyclists
  made their mark on the international scene very
  soon after Lithuania became an independent state.

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Immediately after the re-establishment of
independence, Lithuanian sportsmen participated
in the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville and
Lillehammer and the Summer Olympic Games in
Barcelona and Atlanta. The discus-thrower, Romas
Ubartas won a gold medal in Barcelona, and the
national Men's Basketball Team won bronze medals
in Barcelona and Atlanta. Numerous disabled
sportsmen have earned the title of Champion and
won prizes in the Paraolympic Games. In 1993,
the Lithuanian mountaineer Vladas Vitkauskas
reached the summit of Mount Everest. Later, he
climbed the highest mountains on all the
continents.