Lina Kačiušytė
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| Olympic medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's Swimming | |||
| Gold | 1980 Moscow | 200 m Breaststroke | |
Lina Kačiušytė (born January 1, 1963 in Vilnius) is a former Lithuanian swimmer who competed for the Soviet Union, winner of a gold medal in 200 m breaststroke with the Olympic record time of 2:29:54 at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Her first coach from 1974 to 1977, Arvydas Gražiūnas, saw her great potential and guided her in the right direction. By 1976 she was invited to train with the USSR's youth swimming team and, within a year promoted to the USSR National Team. Following another year of hard training, she was ready for the 1978 World Championships of Berlin.
She surprised everyone by winning the 200 m breaststroke and setting two world records: one in the prelims, defeating world record holder and teammate Julia Bogdanova, the second when winning the gold medal in the finals. She set the world record a third time the following year at the USSR vs. DDR Dual Meet in Potsdam, a record that stood from 1979 through 1985 when it was finally broken by East Germany's Silke Horner. Lina was the first female breaststroke swimmer to go under the 2 minute 30 second barrier for the 200 meter event.
| Olympic champions in women's 200 m breaststroke |
|---|
| 1924: Lucy Morton | 1928: Hilde Schrader | 1932: Clare Dennis | 1936: Hideko Maehata | 1948: Nel van Vliet | 1952: Eva Székely | 1956: Ursula Happe | 1960: Anita Lonsbrough | 1964: Galina Prozumenshchikova | 1968: Sharon Wichman | 1972: Beverley Whitfield | 1976: Marina Kosheveya | 1980: Lina Kačiušytė | 1984: Anne Ottenbrite | 1988: Silke Hörner | 1992: Kyoko Iwasaki | 1996: Penny Heyns | 2000: Agnes Kovacs | 2004: Amanda Beard |
