As of Thursday, February 10, Team Lithuania has completed various ski events at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, with no medals yet. The team consists of skiers Gabrielė Leščinskaitė, Eglė Savickaiė, Ieva Dainytė, Vytautas Strolia, Karol Dombrovski, Tomas Kaukėnas, Linas Banys, Modestas Vaičiulis, and Tautvydas Strolia, as well as figure skaters Paulina Ramanauskaitė and Deividas Kizala.
The skiers participated in Classic, Individual, Sprint and Women‘s Slalom Run events. Tautvydas Strolia and Gabrielė Leščinskaitė have yet to perform in the men‘s 15 km Classic and Women‘s 7.5 km Sprint, respectively, on Saturday, February 12 at 4 AM (EST). Paulina Ramanauskaitė and Deividas Kizala will participate in the Ice Dance (Rhythmic Dance) at 6 AM (EST) on the same day. For Canadians the skating is being shown live at that on the CBC schedule. Next week the Lithuanian team will be participating in the Men‘s 4×7.5 km realy at 4 AM (EST) on Tuesday, February 15, and Vytautas Strolia will be in the Men‘s 15 km Mass Start at 4 AM on Friday, February 18.
The history of Lithuania in the Olympic Games is presented on the olympic website https://olympics.com/en/beijing-2022/, along with other participating nations. Competing at the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games, Lithuania returned to the Olympic Games in 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the restoration of Lithuania’s independence. Lithuania was represented by speed skater Kestutis Bulota at the St. Mortiz 1928 Olympic Winter Games, who competed in all four men’s races. They have competed at every nine Olympic Winter Games since 1992, represented by 29 athletes (18 men, 11 women) in six disciplines: Alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, figure skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating.
Lithuania has not yet won a medal at the Olympic Winter Games. The nation has had three top-10 finishes on ice, all by the figure skating dance couple of Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas. Drobiazko and Vanagas competed at five Olympic Winter Games (1992-2006), finishing eighth in 1998, fifth in 2002, and seventh in 2006. In addition to Drobiazko and Vanagas, biathlete Diana Rasimoviciute competed at five Olympic Winter Games (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018).
Lithuanians have won 26 Olympic medals, with six gold. Two of these Olympic titles were won in the men’s discus throw, with Virgilijus Alekna winning in 2000 and 2004, following the Lithuanian tradition in discus throw as Romas Ubartas won at Barcelona 1992 (for the Unified Team) after finishing second at Seoul 1988 (while representing the Soviet Union).
From 1952 to 1988, many Lithuanians competed for the USSR. During this time the most successful Lithuanians were the basketballers Angele Rupsiene (two golds in 1976 and 1980) and Modestas Paulauskas (one gold, one bronze in 1968 and 1972). Rimas Kurtinaitis, Sarunas Marciulionis, and Arvydas Sabonis all won gold with the Soviet basketball team in 1988 and added two bronze medals with the Lithuanian team in 1992 and 1996. Cross-country skier Vida Venciene won gold and bronze at the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games for the Soviet Union. She later competed for Lithuania in 1992 and 1994, and then carried the national flag at the Torino 2006 Opening Ceremony.
