The Olympic record was broken twice, the Jamaican representative Roje Stons unexpectedly turned the sweetest Lithuanian fairy tale into a bittersweet one, and the experienced wolves of this craft were pushed off the pedestal with an easy hand – the Stade de France stadium, packed with around 75,000 fans during the Games, was simply deafening with abundance.
The drama was called madness and space by such stars as the Swede Daniel Stahl, the Slovenian Kristjanas Čeh or Andrius Gudžius.
The word “crazy” is also chosen by M. Jusis.
“The Olympic record, which belonged to a Lithuanian, was broken twice. When the son broke his father’s record, the whole stadium clapped and cheered heartily. There were many Lithuanians, so we felt great support. I would like to thank the people of Lithuania for coming, for supporting Mykola, for supporting him throughout Lithuania. This is very important for us,” he bowed to the fans.
The 30-year-old specialist observes the competition from the stands according to the rules. M. Alekna can always approach him, consult him.
As written in the annals of our history, M. Alekna threw the discus 69.97 m on her second attempt and thus improved the 20-year-old record of her father Virgilijus Alekna.
The discus thrower lifted all of Lithuania to the sky and higher. But after 20 minutes, R. Ston simply stunned – he threw the discus 70 meters and soon won the gold.
M. Alekna won silver. This is a fantastic achievement for the 21-year-old Olympic Games debutant, and in the future we will see if R. Ston will remain at the top if he chooses this branch. M. Jusis emphasizes stability here.
“It is not easy to throw the discus for a medal in every competition, as Mykolas has been doing since 2022, both at the World and European Championships. He wins medals in every competition, lrytas.lt emphasized M. Jusis, and at the end of the interview, he added, thanking the fans again. “This gives us the motivation to endure another 4 years and take what is ours.”
Portal lrytas.lt after the dizzying evening of the Paris Olympic Games, which brought Lithuania its third medal – 2 bronze and 1 silver, M. Jusius talked about the old guard, the throws of Andrii Gudžių, Mykolos, the names disappearing from the discus throw and conversations with the athlete, who often remains between the lines.
– M. Alekna’s first throw is 68.55 m, and with the second throw she throws 69.97 and improves V. Alekna’s record. What was going through your mind as you watched it all from the stands?
– I am very proud and happy that Mykolas managed to manage and the first throw was over 68 meters. That shot guaranteed us better shots.
If the first one was unsuccessful, then there would be two shots left and it would become difficult psychologically. Psychology during the competition can adjust the throwing technique, so after the first throw we saw Mykolos’ good emotions, he was happy.
From the second he could throw with full force.
We felt the pressure – this is also my father’s record, Lithuania was already hanging on to the medal, so it was not easy to deal with it.
And after the second one, I was happy, but I knew that the competition was not won.
We also talked about this with Mykol, so that even if he threw 70, he would still not stop and relax and work on every throw, because he was ready to throw over 70 meters.
But it just so happened that the Jamaican dropped. We really didn’t expect that.
– You mentioned Roy Stone – did the Olympic champion show with his throw that he will be a constant threat in the discus sector, unless he chooses another sport?
– I watched the video in the morning, because you can’t see much from the stands, far away.
He made a quick, technical shot. Hits the disc well, good launch angle. He is a super athlete, very well built, so he can be very dangerous in the future.
However, it is not easy to throw the discus for a medal in every competition, as Mykolas has been doing since 2022, both at the World and European Championships. He wins medals in every competition. We see that those throwers change, and Mykolas remains among the medalists.
– Is stable psychology one of M. Alekna’s main weapons, in addition to good technique?
– Yes indeed. After the Olympic Games, Mykolas will have grown even more psychologically. He will come to the competition in a completely different way. Now he is in a bit of a hurry, he lacks patience in the shot. But it’s understandable – the young man is 21 years old and has already broken the Olympic, world record, which adds to the pressure.
Of course, it’s not so much others who add pressure as yourself when you start thinking that you have to win.
– I watched how Mykolas moves around the sector – after two throws he walks relaxed, smiles at the cameras, jokes with other athletes. Do you often have to talk with M. Alekna specifically about psychology and not about technique?
– After the European Championship, we talked a lot about everything. In Rome he was very tense, nervous and it was very visible. We are trying to make the Olympic Games a real celebration not only for Lithuania, but also for him to enjoy.
We talked a lot about how to act, what will happen if it doesn’t work out. We were working on it, discussing it.
What he is doing now has come naturally.
– The Olympic cycle has passed. Mykolas grabbed two European (2022, Munich – gold, 2024, Rome – bronze) and two World (2022, Eugene – silver, 2023, Budapest – bronze) championship medals. Improved, Olympic records. What is the conversation waiting for now? Will we see the 2.0 version of M.Alekna?
– On Wednesday, while we were waiting for the doping control, we talked about the need to change nothing too much. The preparation was successful. There is no bigger mistake when athletes start thinking that they will work harder and get better, but sometimes they burn out and disappear.
Slovenian Kristjan Čech was the absolute leader and failed somewhere in the technique. It fell somewhere.
We need to stick to those frames that are successful and bring medals. In Sulig year, Mykolas will be more mature, he will handle himself better psychologically, he will be physically stronger, he will improve some technical details. And then he will be able to fulfill what he is capable of.
– After the final, there was such a strange moment: R. Stona wins the gold, M. Alekna – the silver, but there is such sadness. As if it took time to understand – the 21-year-old Olympic debutant won silver. After all, this is fiction.
– I also thought after the competition: “Three centimeters…” But this is sport. The discus event was great. I won’t lie – the discus throw became the best event of the evening. Fantastic.
– After the final, K. Čehas and D. Stahl said that what happened in the final was completely unbelievable. Andrius Gudžius spoke about the history he saw. There is already talk of a new era in discus throwing. Are times changing when throwing 68 meters is no longer enough?
– For whom? (laughs).
I don’t know, the results were fantastic.
Andrius did a fantastic job. Struggled with a back injury all season. As he said, he will try to carry them out on a stretcher, so he did.
He threw over 66 meters twice, which is really a huge job, knowing his situation. Impressive. A fantastic event, in a fantastic location, a historic place.
I think it was fun for him too to see the new, young guys showing such results.
We saw that D. Stahl threw almost 67 meters and raised his hand. When you think about it now, 67.54 m for the Austrian (Lukas Weisshaidinger, – ed.) resulted in only 5th place. Cosmos.
– Virgilijus Alekna in an interview lrytas.lt said that the results were determined by the fact that it is the youth who take over the baton. Are we drawing a line and in the European and world championships, medals will need much more than this? At the Tokyo Olympics, D. Stahl won gold with 68.90 m. Such a result in Paris would not even lead to bronze.
– Paris and Tokyo are very different. Conditions differ – weather, heat. Conditions were very favorable for good results on Wednesday evening.
The stadium is closed, but although it is small, there was a bit of wind. It also started.
And it’s the same with results – if your competitor is improving the world record, then you have nowhere to go and you have to improve.
That game is growing.
When Virgil was there, the results were also high. When V. Alekna left, no one threw 70 meters for a while.
Later, everything switched again. D. Stahl came – again there were high results.
Then came Mykolas, Kristjans and the discus throw takes place.
It seems that the following thing happened: at the 2023 World Championship, K. Čeh won the gold medal already by throwing 71.13 m.
New results are coming, new youth and the team will need to bring more to such competitions.
– Lithuanian fans have been waiting for this moment for a long time – for the discus thrower to return to the Olympic peak. Where is this sport in Lithuania now? You told the lrt.lt portal that now basketball is no longer the number 1 sport.
– I said this because I was asked if I could say something great to Lithuania. Just then, everyone was saying that it was a pity that something was missing.
Of course, there will always be more people watching basketball, but we have something to be proud of.
In 1996 V. Alekna was fourth, in 2000 – first, in 2004 – first, in 2008 – third, in 2012 – fourth. Andrius is always in the finals, and now Olympic silver again.
Since the independence of Lithuania, the discus throw has the most Olympic Games medals.
I would really like the Vilnius city municipality to take this into account and to finally have a shooting base, because we need a place to train.
We philosophize, but things like that…
I just want to thank the people of Lithuania – we had great support, we saw the flags, we received many messages, which we didn’t even have time to read. They came to support Mykolo, to support Lithuania.
It adds motivation to endure another 4 years and take what is rightfully ours.
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M. Jusis is also the coach of Martynos Aleknas. The 23-year-old discus thrower made his debut in Paris, but he did not pass the selection with his best throw of 58.66 m.
A. Gudžius, who is coached by Vaclov Kidykas, threw the discus with the best throw of 66.55 m and took 8th place.
Winners rise. Roje Stona (70 m), Mykolas Alekna (69.97), Matthew Denny (69.31).
Lithuania was represented by Ieva Gumbs in the women’s discus throw competition. In the selection, she threw the discus 60.37 m and did not make it to the final.
2024-08-09 00:21:18