Lithuania at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Infobox Olympics Lithuania
games=2004 Summer
competitors=59 (47 men, 12 women)
sports=13
flagbearer=Saulius Štombergas
gold=1
silver=2
bronze=0
total=3
rank=45

Lithuania competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Medalists

Results by event

=Athletics=

The Athletics team won two of three medals for Lithuania in Athens. in the men's discus, Sydney gold medalist Virgilijus Alekna easily put up the largest throw of the qualifying round, but in the final his first, and longest throw was bested by Robert Fazekas of Hungary, leaving Alekna in a silver medal spot. However, Fazekas committed an anti-doping violation by failing to submit a proper urine sample, and was disqualified, lifting Alekna into a gold medal. Alekna was fortunate to be able to stand atop the podium for the medal ceremony, as the disqualification occurred before the ceremony took place [cite book
last = Wallechinsky
first = David
authorlink = David Wallechinsky
coauthors = Jamie Loucky
title = The Complete Book of the Olympics : 2008 Edition
publisher = Aurum Press
year = 2008
location = London
pages = 247
isbn = 978-1845133306] .

Lithuania's other athletics medal was much less controversial. Austra Skujyte started poorly in the women's heptathlon, but moved up with huge, season best effort in the shot put, that was more than a metre longer, and worth seventy more points, than the second-best in the competition. Skujyte also through well in the javelin to move up to silver medal position with one event to go, and held on with a season best in the 800 metres, winning by less than a one second margin.

The two medal winners were the only members of the Lithuanian team to finish in the top 10 of their events, and no other athletes advanced to a final.

Men's 800 metres:
* Mindaugas Norbutas
**Round 1: 1:47.38 (6th in heat 2, did not advance, 40th overall) ("Season Best")

Men's Marathon:
* Mindaugas Pukstas
**2:33:02 (74th overall)

Men's Discus Throw:
* Virgilijus Alekna
**Qualification: 67.79 m (1st in Group A, "Qualified", 1st overall)
**Final A: 69.89 m (1st overall, "Qualified")
**Final B: 69.49 m (Best: 69.89 m) (Gold Medal)

Men's 20 kilometre Walk:
* Gintaras Andriuskevicius
**1:27:56 (28th overall)

Men's 50 kilometre Walk:
* Daugvinas Zujus
**4:09:41 (30th overall)

Women's 100 metres:
* Agne Eggerth
**Round 1: 11.44 s (5th in heat 6, did not advance, T-32nd overall)

Women's Marathon:
* Zivile Balciunaite
** 2:35:01 (14th overall)

* Inga Juodeskiene
**3:09:18 (63rd overall)

Women's Javelin Throw:
* Rita Ramanauskaite
** Qualification: 55.17 m (15th in Group B, did not advance, 31st overall)

Women's Heptathlon:
* Austra Skujyte
**6435 points (Silver Medal)
***100 metre Hurdles: 14.03 s (974 points)
***High Jump: 1.76 m (928 points) (Total: 1902 points)
***Shot Put: 16.40 m (955 points) ("Season Best") (Total: 2857 points)
***200 metres: 24.82 s (903 points) ("Personal Best") (Total: 3760 points)
***Long Jump: 6.30 m (943 points) (Total: 4703 points)
***Javelin Throw: 49.58 m (852 points) ("Personal Best") (Total: 5555 points)
***800 metres: 2:15.92 (880 points) ("Personal Best") (Total: 6435 points)

Women's 20 kilometre Walk:
* Kristina Saltanovic
**1:32:22 (19th overall)

* Sonata Milusauskaite
**1:33:36 (23rd overall)

=Basketball=

The Lithuanian team were the top team in their group after the opening round, but had to fight hard to get there, holding off a fast start from Angola to win by five, beating Puerto Rico by eight, and edging the star-studded American team by four.

Still, their first placed finish meant they drew the weakest qualifier from Group A, China, in the quarterfinals, and they advanced easily, winning by twenty. In the semifinals, Lithuania fell prey to the hot shooting of Italy, who, led by Gianluca Basile, shot nearly 50% to win by nine. This setup a rematch with the Americans in the bronze medal game, which this time did not go in Lithuania's favor.

The team's leading scorer was Arvydas Macijauskas of Tau Ceramica, who averaged 15.9 points per game, while Eurelijus Žukauskas of UNICS Kazan contributed 5.0 rebounds a game.

Men's Competiton:

* Team Roster
**Point Guards
***Vidas Ginevičius
***Šarūnas Jasikevičius
**Shooting Guards
***Arvydas Macijauskas
***Ramūnas Šiškauskas
***Donatas Slanina
**Small Forwards
***Mindaugas Žukauskas
***Saulius Štombergas "Captain"
***Dainius Šalenga
**Power Fowards
***Darius Songaila
***Kšyštof Lavrinovič
**Centres
***Robertas Javtokas
***Eurelijus Žukauskas

* Pool B
** Defeated Angola (78 - 73)
** Defeated Puerto Rico (98 - 90)
** Defeated Greece (98 - 76)
** Defeated the United States (94 - 90)
** Defeated Australia (100 - 85)
*1st in group, "Qualified" (5 W, 0 L, 486 PF, 414 PA)
**Quarterfinal: Defeated China (95 - 75
**Semifinal: Lost to Italy (91 - 100)
**Bronze Medal Match: Lost to the United States (96 - 104) (4th overall)

=Boxing=

Lithuania sent two boxers to Athens. One lost his first bout, in the round of 32. The other won his first to advance to the quarterfinal, where he was defeated.

Men's Welterweight (69 kg):
* Rolandas Jasevicius
** Round of 32: Lost to Aliasker Bashirov of Turkmenistan (21 - 54)

Men's Super Heavyweight (+91 kg):
* Jaroslav Jaksto
** Round of 16: Defeated Victor Bisbal of Puerto Rico (26 - 17)
** Quarterfinal: Lost to Mohamed Aly of Egypt (11 - 19)

=Canoeing=

Only one of the three Lithuanian boats in Canoeing in the Games managed to make a final, this being the team of Duonela and Balciunas in the K-2 500 metres. The pair were three-time World Champions in the K-2 200 metres, but were not as successful in the longer 500 metre event in Athens, finishing 7th.

Flatwater

Men's K1 500 metres:
* Alvydas Duonela
**Heat: 1:40.365 (3rd in heat , advanced to semifinal)
**Semifinal: 1:40.253 (4th in semifinal 1, did not advance, 10th overall)

Men's K1 1000 metres:
* Romas Petrukanecas
**Heat: 3:37.758 (7th in heat 3, advanced to semifinal)
**Semifinal: 3:39.493 (9th in semifinal 2, did not advance, 18th overall)

Men's K2 500 metres:
* Alvydas Duonela and Egidijus Balciunas
**Heat: 1:30.521 (2nd in heat 2, advanced to semifinal)
**Semifinal: 1:30.270 (1st in semifinal 2, advanced to final)
**Final: 1:29.868 (7th overall)

=Cycling=

Road

In the women's road race, former World Champion Edita Pucinskaite found herself in a leading break with less than 10 kilometres to go, but she crashed on a downhill turn and was unable to catch up, ending up in 9th place, while the Polikeviciute twins finished behind in the main peloton. Neither entrant in the time trial finished close to a medal, with Pucinskaite again getting the best placing, 10th.

Women's Road Race:
* Rasa Polikeviciute
**3:25:42 (29th overall, 1:18 behind)

* Jolanta Polikeviciute
**3:25:42 (31st overall, 1:18 behind)

* Edita Pucinskaite
** 3:25:10 (9th overall, 0:46 behind)

Women's Time Trial:
* Rasa Polikeviciute
** 34:34.48 (23rd overall, 3:22.95 behind)

* Edita Pucinskaite
**32:42.12 (10th overall, 1:30.59 behind)

Track

The top finish in track cycling from the Lithuanian team was a 4th place from Simona Krupeciate, who was just fifteen-hundredths of a second from a bronze medal spot. Krupeciate also came close to a medal position in the women's sprint, narrowly losing a three-race quarterfinal to a Russian opponent. The Lithuanian men's pursuit team had the misfortune of facing an Australian foursome that set a new world record by more than a half-of-a-second, and were eliminated in the first round.

Men's Individual Pursuit:
* Linas Balciunas
**Qualifying: 4:22.392 (9th overall, did not advance)

Men's Team Pursuit:
* Linas Balciunas, Aivaras Baranauskas, Ingas Konovalovas, Tomas Vaitkus and Raimondas Vilcinskas
**Qualifying: 4:08.812 (8th overall, "Qualified")
**First Round: Lost to Australia (Overlapped)

The first round foursome were Balciunas, Baranauskas, Vaitkus and Vilcinskas, while Konovalovas swapped in for Baranauskas in the first round.

Men's Points Race:
* Tomas Vaitkus
**Did not finish

Women's 500 metre Time Trial:
* Simona Krupeckaite
**34.317 s (4th overall)

Women's Sprint:
* Simona Krupeckaite
**Qualification: 11.430 s (6th overall)
**1/8 Finals: Defeated Svetlana Grankovskaya of Russia (1-0; 11.872 s)
**Quarterfinals: Lost to Tamilla Abassova of Russia (1-2; 11.993 s, 12.632 s, 11.914 s)
**Race for 5th-8th Places: did not finish (7th overall)

=Judo=

The only Lithuanian judoka in Athens played the only round of 64 match in the Men's 60 kg class, and lost it, ending up in last place overall.

Men's 60 kg (Extra-Lightweight):
* Albert Techov
**Round of 64: Lost to Gal Yekutiel of Israel (Okuri-ashi-barai; waza-ari)

=Modern pentathlon=

Two-time world champion Andrejus Zadneprovskis had a very poor start in the shooting event, but rebounded in the next three events to stand sixth, thirty-three seconds behind the leader going into the 3000 metre run. However, the run was easily Zadnprovskis' strength, and he finished it four seconds quicker than the second-fastest time. His run was fast enough to make up the twenty-two seconds required for a silver medal, but he gained only twenty on the leader, and fell more than fifty points short of gold. The other Lithuanian entrant, Edvinas Krungolcas, had a disastrous run, finishing more than two minutes behind the next-to-last runner, and dropping from 12th to second-last.

Men's Individual:
* Edvinas Krungolcas
**4420 points (31st overall)
***Shooting: 171 points (988 points)
***Fencing: 16 W, 15 L (832 points) (Total: 1820 points)
***Swimming: 2:07.23 (1276 points) (Total: 3224 points)
***Riding: 112 faults (1088 points) (Total: 4184 points)
***Running: 13:11.15 (236 points) (Total: 4420 points)

*Andrejus Zadneprovskis
**5428 points (Silver Medal)
***Shooting: 172 points (1000 points)
***Fencing: 19 W, 12 L (916 points) (Total: 1916 points)
***Swimming: 2:04.34 (1308 points) (Total: 3096 points)
***Riding: 112 faults (1088 points) (Total: 4312 points)
***Running: 9:31.46 (1116 points) (Total: 5428 points)

=Rowing=

The Lithuanian sculling pair finished last overall in their event.

Men's Double Sculls:
* Kestutis Keblys and Einaras Siaudvytis
**Heat: 7:07.13 (4th in heat 3, advanced to repechage)
** Repechage: 6:24.56 (5th in repechage, did not advance, 14th overall)

=Sailing=

The top finish for Giedrius Guzys was 19th, which she achieved in two races.

Open Laser:
* Giedrius Guzys
**239 points (27th overall)

=Shooting=

Lithuania's only shooter, Sydney gold medalist Daina Gudzineviciute finished five points short of the score needed to make the final, in a disappointing 14th place.

Women's Trap:
* Daina Gudzineviciute
**Qualification: 55 points (14th overall, did not advance)

=Swimming=

The ten-man Olympic swimming team from Lithuania advanced just two swimmers beyond their opening heats, with only one, Vytautas Janusaitis in the men's 200 metre individual medley, making a final. Janusaitis started well but faded, ending up in 7th, more than four seconds behind Michael Phelps. The other swimmer to advance was Rolandas Gimbutis, who finished 14th in the men's 100 metre freestyle.

Men's 50 metre Freestyle:
* Rolandas Gimbutis
** Heat: 22.59 s (21st overall, did not advance)

Men's 100 metre Freestyle:
* Rolandas Gimbutis
** Heat: 48.85 s (T-2nd overall, "Qualified"
** Semifinal: 49.75 s (14th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Freestyle:
* Saulius Binevicius
**Heat: 1:50.50 (21st overall, did not advance)

Men's 100 metre Backstroke:
* Darius Grigalionis
** Heat: 56.21 s (24th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Backstroke:
* Pavel Suskov
** Heat: 2:03.54 (26th overall, did not advance)

Men's 100 metre Breaststroke:
* Aurimas Valaitis
** Heat: 1:04.11 (38th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Breaststroke:
* Edvinas Dautartas
** Heat: 2:23.12 (44th overall, did not advance)

Men's 100 metre Butterfly:
* Rimvydas Salcius
** Heat: 54.46 s (35th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Butterfly:
* Paulius Andrijauskas
** Heat: 2:04.64 (30th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Individual Medley:
* Vytautas Janusaitis
** Heat: 2:01.32 (8th overall, "Qualified")
** Semifinal: 2:00.57 (3rd overall, "Qualified")
** Final: 2:01.28 (7th overall) Men's 400 metre Individual Medley:
* Vytautas Janusaitis
** Heat: 4:26.30 (27th overall, did not advance)

Men's 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay:
* Saulius Binevicius, Rolandas Gimbutis, Vytautas Janusaitis and Paulius Viktoravicius:* Heat — 3:19.28 (11th overall, did not advance)

=Weightlifting=

Vysnaiuskas attempted a Clean & Jerk of 227.5 kg and failed. At the time, this prevented him from finishing 4th, but after Ferenc Gyurkovics was disqualified for an anti-doping violation, the miss turned out to cost him a bronze medal, as he would have won a three-way tie on body weight.

Men's 105 kg:
* Ramunas Vysniauskas
**410.0 kg (Snatch: 187.5 kg, Clean & Jerk 222.5 kg) (5th overall)

=Wrestling=

Greco-Roman

The three Lithuanian wrestlers in Athens all failed to advance beyond pool play, putting up a combined record of 2-5.

Men's 55 kg:
* Svajunas Adomaitis
**Pool 3
***Lost to Irakli Chochua of Georgia (1 - 3)
***Lost to Ercan Yildiz of Turkey (1 - 3; 6:29)
**3rd in pool, did not advance (2 TP, 2 CP, 16th overall)

Men's 96 kg:
* Mindaugas Ezerskis
**Pool 3
***Defeated Petru Sudureac of Romania (3 - 1)
***Lost to Masoud Hashemzadeh of Iran (Fall; 4:43)
**2nd in pool, did not advance (6 TP, 3 CP, 13th overall)

Men's 120 kg:
* Mindaugas Mizgaitis
**Pool 6
***Lost to Rulon Gardner of the United States (0 - 3)
***Defeated Marek Mikulski of Poland (3 - 0)
***Lost to Serguey Moreyko of Bulgaria (1 - 2; 9:00)
**3rd in pool, did not advance (4 TP, 4 CP, 11th overall)

Non-competing Athletes

Vytautas Kaupas was on the entry list as an alternate for the Track cycling team pursuit, but did not compete in the event.

Officials

*President: Arturas Poviliunas
*Secretary General: Vytautas Zubernis

References

* [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/2004/Results/ Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad]

*cite book
last = Wallechinsky
first = David
authorlink = David Wallechinsky
coauthors = Jamie Loucky
title = The Complete Book of the Olympics : 2008 Edition
publisher = Aurum Press
year = 2008
location = London
pages =
isbn = 978-1845133306