Virgilijus Alekna
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| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Virgilijus Alekna |
|||
| Men's Athletics | |||
Competitor for  Lithuania |
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| Olympic Games | |||
| Gold |  2004 Athens |
Discus | |
| Gold |  2000 Sydney |
Discus | |
| Bronze |  2008 Beijing |
Discus | |
| World Championships | |||
| Gold |  2005 Helsinki |
Discus | |
| Gold |  2003 Paris |
Discus | |
| Silver |  2001 Edmonton |
Discus | |
| Silver | 1997 Athens |
Discus | |
| European Championships | |||
| Gold |  2006 Gothenburg |
Discus | |
| Silver |  2002 Munich |
Discus | |
| Bronze |  1998 Budapest |
Discus | |
Virgilijus Alekna is a famous Lithuanian athlete. He was born on 14 February 1972 in Terpeikiai, Lithuania, near the town of Kupiškis.
[edit] Career
Alekna has so far won two gold medals in the Summer Olympics, both in the discus throw. The first was in the 2000 and the second in 2004. Alekna's performance at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics was less successful, winning him the bronze medal at his fourth attempt of 67.79 m. In 2007, he was appointed as UNESCO Champion for Sport. His personal record is 73.88 meters (242 ft 4½ in), surpassed only by the world record (74.08 m.).
| 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 | 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[1] | 69.89 |
| 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 |
| 2008 | Summer Olympics | 3 | 67.79 |
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 young sons named Martynas and Mykolas.
At a height of 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in), Alekna has an abnormally long wingspan, measured 2.22m (7 ft 3.5 in), which is useful for discus throwing. He can make fingerprints on windows of two opposite sides of a bus simultaneously.[2]
During the 2007 World Championship Virgilijus Alekna competed with an injury. Having sustained the sustained the injury on 20 August, he competed in the World Championship's qualification on 28 August [3] and, as a result, suffered a defeat, which broke his 37 victories in a row over the past two years.[3]
[edit] Notes
- ^ 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 (Lithuanian) Eglė Šilinskaitė. Nenugalimąjį metiką įveikė kojos trauma (Unbeatable thrower was defeat by leg injury). Retrieved on 2007-08-29
[edit] External links
- IAAF profile for Virgilijus Alekna
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| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
Preceded by Hicham El Guerrouj |
Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year 2000 |
Succeeded by Hicham El Guerrouj |
| Preceded by Christian Olsson |
Men's European Athlete of the Year 2005 |
Succeeded by Francis Obikwelu |
