Lithuania sends a delegation of 50 athletes to Paris – but who are most likely to bring home medals?
Discus throw – Mykolas Alekna
Mykolas Alekna, who earlier this year broke the 38-year-old world discus throw record with 74.35m, is one of the top medal contenders.
The 21-year-old has already won silver and bronze at the World Championships, as well as gold and bronze at the European Championships.
However, he will face stiff competition. At this year's European Athletics Championships, where Alekna finished third, he was beaten by Kristjan Cech, Austrian Lukas Weishaidinger and Sweden's Daniel Stahl.
Breaking – Dominika Banevič
The 17-year-old breakdancer has been spoiling Lithuanian sports fans with her achievements,
The only hiccup came last year when she finished third in the European games. However, she showed self-confidence and maturity of character: "A lot of people came up to me and said that I had to win. But it is what it is, the world hasn't ended, I will fight my way to the World Championships and everything will be different," said Banevich, who soon after became World Champion and won her ticket to this year's Olympic games.
In Paris, the oldest dancer will be Japan's Bgirl Ayumi, who is 41 years old, while Banevich will be the youngest competitor.
3x3 basketball team
They will be the only basketball players to represent Lithuania after the men's national team failed to secure a ticket during the qualifiers in Puerto Rico. The 3x3 team of Evaldas Džiaugys, Gintautas Matulis, Aurelijus Pukelis and Šarūnas Vingelis is coached by Dainius Novickas.
The Lithuanian team is ranked 6th in the World Ranking of 3x3 basketball teams, but the Lithuanian team is 3rd among all the teams participating in the Olympics.
However, it will not be easy, as there is a cluster of stars coming to Paris, including Serbia's Strahinja Stojačić, NBA's Jimer Fredette and the leader of the Dutch national team Worthy De Jong.
Swimming – Rūta Meilutytė
The swimmer, nicknamed "goldfish", always attracts thousands of spectators in Lithuania.
Meilutytė won a gold medal at the 2012 Games, competed at the 2016 Rio Games and then retired from sports. She returned to swimming in late 2021 and then again surprised Lithuania by winning gold at the 2023 World Championships and bronze at the 2022 European Championships.
However, Meilutyte's health may become a hurdle – she underwent foot surgery in February and did not return to competitive swimming until late June.
Rowing – Dovilė Rimkutė and Donata Karalienė
The title-winning duo of Rimkutė and Karalienė is a mix of experience and youth.
This will be the fourth Olympic Games for Karalienė, where she competed with a different partner. She then joined forces with the younger athlete Rinkutė, with the pair then winning silver and the European and World Championships in 2023 and silver at the 2024 European Championships.
Modern pentathlon – Laura Asadauskaitė-Zadneprovskienė
She is the athlete with the most experience among the Lithuanian delegation in Paris. Aged 40, she has already competed in four Olympic Games, winning gold at the London 2012 Games and becoming the only Lithuanian athlete to win a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games by claiming silver.
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