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Virgilijus Alekna

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Virgilijus Alekna
Virgilijus Alekna at 2014 Lithuanian Championships in Athletics
Personal information
NationalityLithuanian
Born (1972-02-13) 13 February 1972 (age 52)
Terpeikiai, Lithuania
Height2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)
Weight130 kg (287 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics
EventDiscus throw
Achievements and titles
Personal best73.88 m (2000)
Medal record
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 0 1
World Championships 2 2 0
European Championships 1 1 1
Continental Cup 4 1 0
IAAF Grand Prix Final 1 1 0
IAAF World Cup 2 0 0
European Throwing Cup 0 1 0
Goodwill Games 0 0 1
Total 12 6 3
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2000 Sydney Discus
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Discus
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing Discus
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2003 Paris Discus
Gold medal – first place 2005 Helsinki Discus
Silver medal – second place 1997 Athens Discus
Silver medal – second place 2001 Edmonton Discus
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2006 Gothenburg Discus
Silver medal – second place 2002 Munich Discus
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Budapest Discus
IAAF World Athletics Final
Gold medal – first place 2003 Monte Carlo Discus
Gold medal – first place 2005 Monte Carlo Discus
Gold medal – first place 2006 Stuttgart Discus
Gold medal – first place 2009 Thessaloniki Discus
Silver medal – second place 2007 Stuttgart Discus
IAAF Grand Prix Final
Gold medal – first place 2001 Melbourne Discus
Silver medal – second place 1999 Munich Discus
IAAF World Cup
Gold medal – first place 1998 Johannesburg Discus
Gold medal – first place 2006 Athens Discus
European Throwing Cup
Silver medal – second place 2013 Castellón Discus
Goodwill Games
Bronze medal – third place 2001 Brisbane Discus
Updated on 12 August 2012

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

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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 at his eighth World Championships in 2009, Berlin.

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

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "All-time men's best discus throw".
  3. ^ McCarvel, Nick (7 August 2024). "Paris 2024 Athletics Men's Discus Throw: All Results as Roje Stona Wins the Gold Medal".
  4. ^ 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).
  5. ^ IAAF
  6. ^ a b (in Lithuanian) Eglė Šilinskaitė. Nenugalimąjį metiką įveikė kojos trauma (Unbeatable thrower was defeat by leg injury). Retrieved on 2007-08-29
  7. ^ "Vetter and Stefanidi crowned European Athletes of the Year | NEWS | World Athletics".
  8. ^ "Vetter and Stefanidi crowned European athletes of the year". 14 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Olimpinis čempionas atskleidė, kodėl priėmė liberalų pasiūlymą".
  10. ^ Į Seimą nepateko nė vienas liberalo Remigijaus Šimašiaus valdomo Vilniaus liberalas
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Virgilijus Alekna.
Awards
Preceded by Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year
2000 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Men's European Athlete of the Year
2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Best Lithuanian sportsman of the Year
2000 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Best Lithuanian sportsman of the Year
2004, 2005, 2006 		Succeeded by
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Lithuania
London 2012 		Succeeded by
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