News2022.01.31 17:17

What are Lithuania’s chances at Winter Olympics?

Lithuania has yet to win a single medal at winter Olympics, although chances it will happen this year are slim.

The Winter Games kick off on February 4 in Beijing. The organisers promise a colourful show and the most inventive way of lighting the Olympic flame in a hundred years.

Read more: Lithuanian biathletes don 'partisan' uniforms for Beijing Winter Olympics

Some 2,900 athletes from all over the world will take part in the Games, which will go down in history as the most gender-balanced: 45 percent of the competing athletes are women, the best figure so far.

Lithuania will be represented by 13 athletes who will compete in biathlon, figure skating and skiing.

Lithuania has not yet managed to win any medals in winter Olympics, ever. According to the biathlon qualification results, the Lithuanian men's team ranks 16th, and the women's team is 24th. The men's biathlon team made it to the Olympics for the first time.

Lithuania managed to get one spot in ice dancing and two in alpine skiing. There will be four Lithuanians in cross-country skiing.

The composition of the country's Olympic team looks like this:

Biathlon: Gabrielė Leščinskaitė, Karolis Dombrovskis, Linas Banys, Tomas Kaukėnas, Vytautas Strolia.

Alpine skiing: Andrejus Drukarovas, Gabija Šinkūnaitė.

Ski race: Modestas Vaičiulis, Tautvydas Strolia, Ieva Dainytė, Eglė Savickaitė.

Figure skating: Deividas Kizala and Paulina Ramanauskaitė.

“The epidemiological situation in the world is still tense, but I believe that both athletes and participants in the Olympic mission will cope with the goals set for them. And it remains for us, the spectators and fans, to support the athletes with all our hearts,” said Daina Gudzinevičiūtė, president of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee and one-time Olympic champion.

Read more: Olympic door closed – Reed of Lithuania's ice dancer pair denied citizenship

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