Virgilijus Alekna
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| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Virgilijus Alekna |
|||
| Men's Athletics | |||
Competitor for  Lithuania |
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| Olympic Games | |||
| Gold | 2000 Sydney | Discus | |
| Gold | 2004 Athens | Discus | |
| World Championships | |||
| Gold | 2003 Paris | Discus | |
| Gold | 2005 Helsinki | Discus | |
| Silver | 1997 Athens | Discus | |
| Silver | 2001 Edmonton | 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 February 13, 1972 in Terpeikiai in Lithuania, near Kupiškis (Lithuania).
He won two gold medals in the Summer Olympics, both in the discus throw. The first was in the 2000 and the second in 2004. 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 |
Alekna was awarded the title of Athlete of the Year for 2000 by Track and Field News. He was also awarded Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas by Lithuania government. Since 1995 has served as a body guard of the Lithuanian prime minister.
He is married to former long jumper Kristina Sablovskytė-Aleknienė and has two young sons – 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 help his throwing. He can make fingerprints on windows on both sides of a bus simultaneously.[1]
In 2007 World Championship Virgilijus Alekna competed with an injury, which he suffered only on 20th of August. The athlete competed for the first time only in the World Championship's qualification on 28th of August [2] and, as a result, suffered a defeat, which broke his 37 victories in a row over the past two years.[2]
[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 also erased from all records, and consequently, that Olympic Record was awarded to Alekna (who had still beaten the old Olympic Record).
- ^ 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 |
