2024-07-11 23:09:10
On Wednesday, about 20 athletes who had the right to go to the Paris Olympics gathered at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, but at that time no one could say exactly what the composition of the Lithuanian Olympiad delegation was – only about five dozen athletes were talked about in the abstract.
On Thursday, the Council of Olympic Issues held its meeting in the Crowne Plaza conference hall of the LTOC capital, followed by a meeting of the LTOC Executive Committee, after which the Lithuanian Olympic team for the Paris Games was officially approved.
So the question was simple – what did the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports send off on Wednesday and why did not “Olympians” appear in its announcements, but “Lithuanian Olympic Team”.
“This is definitely not a question for the Olympic Committee and not for me. Let the ministry talk about it and try to explain it. It has long been announced that the escort of the Olympic team will be held on July 16 at the Presidency.
I can confirm one thing, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports did not coordinate my event with LTOK, and I was the only one who received the invitation to the event a week ago. Unfortunately, I wrote that I will be away. I say, try to explain with the ministry”, assured LTOK president Daina Gudzinevičiūtė.
Not only that, Wednesday’s escort at the ministry became quite a spectacle – after inviting the national media to the event, its clerks demanded to leave the ceremony room for the media just a few minutes after it started, and the rest of the escort took place behind closed doors.
On Thursday, the LTOK announced that a delegation of 50 athletes will go to Paris: 24 women and 26 men. Even the 31st member of the Lithuanian Olympic team will make his debut at the Games.
In addition to 50 athletes, the Lithuanian delegation in Paris will also include 49 coaches and service personnel.
“For the time being, there will be 50 athletes in the Lithuanian Olympic team. In the Tokyo Games, we got an additional five places. It is not known how many such gifts there will be now – we can expect, we can not expect. But basically, we will expect results from the current number of athletes,” explained LTOK president D. Gudzinevičiūtė.
– Did the fact that basketball did not make it to the Olympics significantly reduce the number of our participants compared to other previous games?
– We are not comparing with the Tokyo Games, we are comparing with the previous ones, when we had centralized preparation. It was a record 70 athletes, in Rio de Janeiro we had 67 starters.
Now we have 50 athletes and in my mind that’s way behind what we had. We also have to remember that this number increased this time, I dare not say that it was unexpected, but from those federations where the state did not contribute financially to the preparation at all.
It’s equestrian sports, beach volleyball. So that number of participants partly reflects our level, partly it does not.
– The national team decreased by two athletes. Due to the rules of the World Aquatics Federation, Kristupas Trepočka lost his place in the 4×200 m freestyle swimming relay, and rider Aistis Vitkauskas lost his place due to the qualification of his horse. Were these unexpected losses for you?
– Regarding Aistis Vitkauskas, it was actually unexpected. It is a challenge for us, namely the participation of equestrian sports in the Games, because our people have not had any experience with vets, or with horsemen, or with licenses, or with anything like that before.
Equestrian sports are still mysterious, everything about them is strange. And the fact that some horse would not pass the qualification, although the athlete qualified, was very strange. Regarding swimming, I had to hear about the situation, but it is a very strange decision of the World Aquatics Federation.
It is not known whether some error caused this decision or something else. But it must be said that everything depends only on the international federation, because it is responsible for organizing the selection.
I found out earlier, I tried through my channels to see if it could change that decision, but I was told it couldn’t. It’s very disappointing, I have to regret it.
I heard that there are more than one such teams, there are somewhere around eight of them. For K. Trepočka, I think this is a big blow, I sympathize and regret that this happened, because we were guided by perhaps older rules, we did not know that they were newer. Maybe it’s our federation’s problem that they didn’t pay attention to the time…
– What goals are set for those 50 athletes in Paris?
– As I always say, I never name people. Wishes and hopes are high. All federations sending their athletes to the Olympics spoke about the preparation of athletes today – sometimes those wishes are realistic, sometimes not.
We want every athlete to perform at their best. Our motto this year is that unity is the greatest Olympic achievement. Do not forget that those who go to the Olympics are already the elite of the elite, even if they finish last among the elite, they are still the elite.
– It was said that the goal is to have 100 Lithuanian athletes at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. Now there will be 50 in Paris – half as many. Are there any chances that in four years there will be those hundred athletes?
– After the Tokyo Games, there were probably a lot of disappointed people – so we expressed a lot of comments, expectations and wishes. Unfortunately, the state institutions did not even consider some of them.
I think that if things don’t change drastically, there will definitely not be 100 Olympians in Los Angeles. Even if there will be positive changes, thinking about 100 athletes in four years is absolutely unrealistic.
If there were positive changes – if the focus was on the athlete, the supply, medical and scientific service would improve, then we can reach the limit of 70 athletes. Maybe a little more. For 100 sports I can bet on anyone and anything.
The norms to enter the Olympics are increasing very strongly. The world is moving forward, technology, inventory, scientific service, ways to recover from competition – we are lagging behind.
– About 18 Russians, who will be neutral athletes, are planning to compete in the Paris Games. As far as is known, Ukraine has given recommendations to its athletes on how to behave when they have to fight against Russian or Belarusian representatives. Does Lithuania have any guidelines for such cases?
– We had a seminar for our athletes, where we talked about behavior in the village, about the Olympic Charter, even about communicating with the press, because it is required by the Charter.
We warned that anyone who might have a rival from among neutral athletes on their way, I think we need to talk more about Belarusians, because there will be so many Russians that we will be able to count them on the fingers of one hand, so we suggested to find out through our representatives if there are any requirements .
We all remember the case of the Ukrainian fencing master who did not congratulate her Russian rival. It turns out that this was a normal practice, everything was coordinated in advance so that the Ukrainian would not show that sign of respect to her opponent.
I asked that everyone, knowing in advance that they may have to fight against such an opponent, clarify the nuances so that later one or another demonstration of the position does not cost accreditation and disqualification.
2024-07-11 23:09:10