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SportinLithuania is governed by the Physical Education and Sports Department following the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. TheLithuanian government established the department to manage physical education in the schools and sports administration in the country. Over the next few years, Lithuanian sports organizations established (or re-established) membership in international governing bodies (including theInternational Olympic Committee). Lithuania participated in theWinter Olympics in Albertville and has participated in every Winter and Summer Olympics since.
There are nearly 80 Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations in Lithuania, and the Lithuanian Union of Sports Federations was founded in 1993 to unite them. An organization, "Sports for All", was established to promote physical education and a healthy lifestyle for all Lithuanians.
Among the most popular sports in Lithuania arebasketball,football,athletics andcycling. Professional athletes and trainers are educated at theLithuanian Academy of Physical Education.
Basketball is the most popular and successful team sport in Lithuania. Luke Winn, a writer for the American magazineSports Illustrated, said in an August 2011 story:
"Basketball is the only sport the 3.2 million Lithuanians truly care about—it is their second religion, after Catholicism—and their success is proportionately stunning."[1]
TheLithuanian national basketball team won theEuropean basketball Championship in1937,1939 (when it was the host country) and2003. They won silver medals in1995,2013 and2015, bronze in2007, and again hostedEuroBasket 2011. They were the bronze medal winners in the2010 FIBA World Championship, which was one of the biggest underdog stories of the team, beating Spain, France, Argentina and Serbia in the bronze medal match while eventually being only defeated once, in the semifinal against Team USA.
InOlympic competition, Lithuania was the bronze medalist at the1992,1996, and2000 Summer Olympics. The team finished fourth in2004 (although it defeated Team USA in the group stage, it then lost the bronze medal game against them) and2008.
Lithuania's under-19 junior basketball team won the European Championship in 2003 and took second place at the World Championship that year. The U-17 team has won bronze in 2016 world championship. Its under-21 junior team won the 2005 World Championship in Argentina.
BC Žalgiris, based in Kaunas, is the most successful basketball club in Lithuania. The team won theIntercontinental Cup in 1986,EuroCup in 1998 and theEuroLeague in 1999. In 2018, the club after 19 years has reached theEuroleague Final Four again, reaching the 3rd place.Lietuvos rytas, in Vilnius, won the ULEB Cup (now known as theEuroCup) in 2005 and 2009, and was runner-up in 2007.
In theEuroLeague,Šarūnas Jasikevičius was a four-timeEuroLeague winner andArvydas Macijauskas,Ramūnas Šiškauskas,Arvydas Sabonis were Euroleague MVPs.Several Lithuanian basketball players have played successfully in theNBA:
Previously Lithuania ranked fourth in theFIBA World Rankings and putting this in perspective, Luke Winn wrote that Lithuania was at the time
"...behind countries of 313 million (theU.S.), 47 million (Spain), 40 million (Argentina) and 11 million (Greece), and just ahead of countries of 79 million (Turkey) and 61 million (Italy).[1]
On 19 December 2022Kaunas was announced as a host city for the2023 EuroLeague Final Four, the first in Lithuania's sports history.[2]
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TheLithuanian national Football team reached its highestrating to date (number 37) in October 2008.From the beginning of the independent Lithuanian state (from 1919 until theSovietoccupation), "sport" was equivalent to "Football". Football players were the first athletes to participate in international competitions (notably, the1924 Olympic Games in Paris and1938 World Cup qualifying matches. During theperiod of Soviet occupation, Football remained popular because ofFK Žalgiris success in the Soviet Union league and European tournaments. After independence, the national team was the closest to qualifying to a major tournament in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, reaching 3rd place in the group. At the club level, no team has yet reached the group stage of any major UEFA tournament (UCL or EL) althoughFK Žalgiris,FK Sūduva,FK Ekranas andFBK Kaunas were close to qualifying having reached the Europa League Play-off phase multiple times.
Lithuanian Football players who have been successful in major European Football leagues include:
TheA Lyga ("A" League) is the top division in Lithuanian professionalfootball.As in the rest of Europe, Lithuanians enjoy following theUEFA Champions League, theFIFA World Cup and other world-class Football tournaments.
Rugby union was introduced in Lithuania during the 1960s, with teams inKaunas andVilnius. During last 20 years, the northern city ofŠiauliai has become the capital of Lithuanian rugby, with the two strongest teams in Lithuania located there. The Šiauliai Vairas-Jupoja team are national champions,[3] and the Šiauliai BaltRex have been runners-up for the last 10 years (except 2006).[4] The Lithuanian national team competes in European rugby division 2A. World rugby star Laurynas Tipelis also plays for the Lithuanian national team, which holds a world record of 18 consecutive international wins.[5] The streak began in 2006 and ended in 2010, when Lithuania lost its World Cup qualifier to higher-ranked Ukraine.
Lithuania is ranked 39th in theIRB rankings. There are 13 rugby clubs in the country, with more than 1600 players (820 seniors).Rugby sevens is also popular; the Lithuanian rugby sevens national team is a successful participant in the European championships. The Lithuanianwomen's rugby sevens national team is progressing from the lower tiers of the European ranks.
Lithuanian athletes have won 11 Olympic medals,[6] 7 at the World championships[7] and 14 at the European Championships.[8] The most successful Lithuanian athlete isdiscus throwerVirglijus Alekna, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion. Another Olympic gold-medal discus thrower isRomas Ubartas. In recent years, Lithuanian sprinters have been on the ascendancy. In 2010 two Lithuanian sprinters,Martynas Jurgilas andRytis Sakalauskas, set newnational records for the 100-metre dash. A top woman sprinter,Lina Grinčikaitė, won gold medals at the2009 Summer Universiade and the2009 European Athletics U23 Championships. Lithuania also has a tradition of excellence in distance events. The most successful distance runners in recent years have beenAleksandras Antipovas andŽivilė Balčiūnaitė. In addition, womenheptathletes have medalled at a high level.
Lithuanian cyclists have achieved good results in prestigious cycling tours and theWorld Championships. The achievements of Lithuanian women cyclists are especially noteworthy.Lithuanian women made their mark on the international cycling scene beginning in 1991. Among the leaders wereZita Urbonaitė and Diana Čepelienė (who took third place inGC) in theWomen's Challenge that summer.
Among the best Lithuanian cyclists were twin sistersJolanta andRasa Polikevičiūtė (2001world road race champion),Edita Pučinskaitė (1999 worldroad race champion) andDiana Žiliūtė (1994 world junior road race champion, 1998 world road race champion and 2000 Olympic road race bronze medalist).There is a strong junior program in cycling for girls in Lithuania, culminating in an annual international race inPanevėžys. A number of young Lithuanian riders have emerged from this program (particularly Modesta Vžesniauskaitė, one of the top riders in the world).
Lithuania's women'strack cycling team regularly wins medals at the world and European championships. In recent years, the most successful track cyclist has beenSimona Krupeckaitė.
Among other sports and pastimes,poker became an official sport in Lithuania on 20 March 2010. The Lithuanian Poker Federation was founded by well-known Lithuanian poker playerTony G.Lithuania's baseball team played a team fromCalifornia'sSan ClementeLittle League on 6 April 2010.The country is also aFederation of International Bandy member,[18] and planned to compete in theBandy World Championship for the first time in 2011,[19] but has so far (2015) not taken part in the annual competition.Lithuania also has many well-knownstrongmen (the most successful of whom isŽydrūnas Savickas),and itsmodern pentathlon athletes have won medals at the Olympics and the World Championships.
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