Virgilijus Alekna
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Virgilijus Alekna (Lithuanian pronunciation: [vʲɪrʲˈɡʲɪlʲɪjʊs ɐlʲɛkˈnɐ]; 13 February 1972) is a Lithuanian former discus thrower and politician. He won medals at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics, including two golds.
After retiring from athletics, Alekna was elected to the national parliament, the Seimas, in 2016.[citation needed]
He has three children – Martynas Alekna, the discus world record holder Mykolas Alekna, and Gabrielė Aleknaite.[1]
Athletics career
[edit]Alekna has won two gold medals in the Summer Olympics in the discus throw, the first was in 2000 and the second in 2004. He also won the bronze medal for the same event at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. In 2007, he was appointed as UNESCO Champion for Sport.
Alekna's personal record is 73.88 m (242 ft 4+1⁄2 in), surpassed only by the former world record of 74.08 meters, set by Jürgen Schult in 1986, and his son Mykolas's current world record of 74.35 meters, achieved in 2024. [2] His 20-year Olympic record of 69.89 meters, set in Athens 2004, was broken twice at the Paris 2024 Olympics — first by his son Mykolas with a throw of 69.97 meters, and then by Rojé Stona with a throw of 70.0 meters.[3]
| Performance in major competitions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Competition | Place | Distance (meters) |
| 1994 | European Championship | 17 | 56.38 |
| 1995 | World Championship | 19 | 59.20 |
| 1996 | Summer Olympics | 5 | 65.30 |
| 1997 | World Championship | 2 | 66.70 |
| 1998 | European Championship | 3 | 66.46 |
| 1999 | World Championship | 4 | 67.53 |
| 2000 | Lithuanian Athletics Championships | 1 | 73.88 (NR) |
| 2000 | Summer Olympics | 1 | 69.30 |
| 2001 | World Championship | 2 | 69.40 |
| 2002 | European Championship | 2 | 66.62 |
| 2003 | World Championship | 1 | 69.69 |
| 2003 | World Athletics Final | 1 | 68.30 |
| 2004 | Summer Olympics | 1[4] | 69.89 (OR) |
| 2004 | World Athletics Final | 4 | 63.64 |
| 2005 | World Championship | 1 | 70.17 |
| 2005 | World Athletics Final | 1 | 67.64 |
| 2006 | European Championship | 1 | 68.67 |
| 2006 | World Athletics Final | 1 | 68.63 |
| 2007 | World Championship | 4 | 65.24 |
| 2007 | World Athletics Final | 2 | 65.94 |
| 2008 | Summer Olympics | 3 | 67.79 |
| 2008 | World Athletics Final | 8 | 61.03 |
| 2009 | World Championship | 4 | 66.36 |
| 2009 | World Athletics Final | 1 | 67.63 |
| 2010 | European Championship | 5 | 64.64 |
| 2011 | World Championship | 6 | 64.09 |
| 2012 | Summer Olympics | 4 | 67.38 |
| 2013 | World Championship | 16 | 61.91 |
| 2014 | European Championship | 21 | 59.35 |
Alekna was awarded the title of the Athlete of the Year for 2000 by Track and Field News. He was also awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas by the government of Lithuania. He became the Lithuanian Sportsman of the Year 4 times (2000, 2004, 2005, and 2006). Since 1995 Alekna has served as a bodyguard of the Lithuanian Prime Minister.
He is married to former long jumper Kristina Sablovskytė-Aleknienė and has two sons named Martynas and Mykolas, also discus throwers.
At a height of 2.02 m (6 ft 7+1⁄2 in), Alekna has an unusually long armspan, measured 2.24 m (7 ft 4 in), which is helpful in discus throwing. He can make fingerprints on windows of two opposite sides of a bus simultaneously.[5]
During the 2007 World Championship Virgilijus Alekna competed with an injury. Having sustained the injury on 20 August, he competed in the World Championship's qualification on 28 August[6] and, as a result, suffered a defeat, which broke his 37 victories in a row over the past two years.[6] In 2017 Alekna was awarded the European Athletics Lifetime Achievement award.[7][8]
Political career
[edit]In May 2016, Alekna announced he would participate in the elections to the Seimas the following October on the electoral list of the opposition Liberal Movement, without joining the party.[9] He lost the run-off in Naujamiestis single-member constituency,[10] but was elected to the Twelfth Seimas through the electoral list of the party, where he was rated second.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ Milašius, Marius (15 February 2022). "50 V.Aleknos metų: "Svajonė išsipildys su kaupu, jei bus trys olimpiečiai iš Aleknų" (III)" [V. Alekna turns 50: "My dream will come true when there are three Olympians named Alekna"]. 15min.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
- ^ "All-time men's best discus throw".
- ^ McCarvel, Nick (7 August 2024). "Paris 2024 Athletics Men's Discus Throw: All Results as Roje Stona Wins the Gold Medal".
- ^ The 2004 Summer Olympics were marked by a scandal when Hungarian athlete Róbert Fazekas was stripped of his gold medal on the Men's discus event after being caught tampering with his urine sample and refusing to release it during his post-event doping exam. The gold medal was then awarded to Virgilijus Alekna. Although Fazekas set an Olympic Record, this was erased from all records, and consequently the Olympic Record was credited to Alekna (whose winning throw in Athens had beaten the old Olympic Record).
- ^ IAAF
- ^ a b (in Lithuanian) Eglė Šilinskaitė. Nenugalimąjį metiką įveikė kojos trauma (Unbeatable thrower was defeat by leg injury). Retrieved on 2007-08-29
- ^ "Vetter and Stefanidi crowned European Athletes of the Year | NEWS | World Athletics".
- ^ "Vetter and Stefanidi crowned European athletes of the year". 14 October 2017.
- ^ "Olimpinis čempionas atskleidė, kodėl priėmė liberalų pasiūlymą".
- ^ Į Seimą nepateko nė vienas liberalo Remigijaus Šimašiaus valdomo Vilniaus liberalas
External links
[edit]
- Virgilijus Alekna at World Athletics
- Virgilijus Alekna at Diamond League
- Virgilijus Alekna at European Athletics (archive)
- Virgilijus Alekna at Olympics.com
- Virgilijus Alekna at Olympic.org (archived)
- Virgilijus Alekna at Olympedia (archive)
- Virgilijus Alekna at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Virgilijus Alekna at the Lietuvos tautinis olimpinis komitetas (in Lithuanian)
- ALEKNA biography rzutyiskoki.pl
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European Athletics Championships champions in men's discus throw | |
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 Diamond League champions in men's discus throw | |
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| International | |
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| People | |
- 1972 births
- Living people
- Lithuanian male discus throwers
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- European Athletics Championships medalists
- Lithuanian Sportsperson of the Year winners
- Lithuanian masters athletes
- Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes for Lithuania
- Olympic bronze medalists for Lithuania
- Olympic gold medalists for Lithuania
- Recipients of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas
- World Athletics Championships athletes for Lithuania
- World Athletics Championships medalists
- World record holders in masters athletics
- Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Members of the Seimas
- 21st-century Lithuanian politicians
- Goodwill Games medalists in athletics
- European Athlete of the Year winners
- Recipients of the European Athletics Lifetime Achievement Award
- Track & Field News Athlete of the Year winners
- Diamond League winners
- World Athletics Championships winners
- IAAF World Athletics Final winners
- Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games
- Lithuanian Sports University alumni