Paulina Radziulytė
Lithuanian athlete
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paulina Radziulytė-Kalvaitienė (14 February 1905 – 19 June 1986) was a Lithuanian athlete and basketball player. She was the first woman representative of Lithuania at the Olympic Games,[4] and a silver medalist at the EuroBasket Women 1938. She was one of the most famous and accomplished sportswomen in inter-war Lithuania.[5]
Radziulytė with the Lithuanian basketball team at EuroBasket 1938 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Lithuanian |
| Born | 14 February 1905[1][2] |
| Died | 19 June 1986 (aged 81)[2] Sharon, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics, basketball |
| Club | Lietuvos fizinio lavinimosi sąjunga (LFLS) |
As an athlete, she competed in various events, but mostly in sprints and middle-distance running. She competed in the women's 800 metres at the 1928 Summer Olympics.[6] She was a Lithuanian champion in athletics 27 times and achieved Lithuanian national records 26 times.[3] Five times (in 1927, 1928, 1934, 1936, and 1937) she was Lithuanian champion in women's basketball with the LFLS team.[3] With the LFLS team she also won gold in women's basketball at the first Lithuanian National Olympics in July 1938.[7] A member of the Lithuanian team, she won silver at the EuroBasket Women 1938.[3]
During World War II, she retreated to Germany and moved to Switzerland and Australia, eventually settling in Boston, Massachusetts in 1958.[8] In 1961–1981, she worked as a teacher at a Lithuanian school and was active in scouting. She directed school's plays and published a collection of plays in 1976.[8]
Lithuanian athletics champion
Radziulytė won gold in the following events at the Lithuanian Athletics Championships:[3]
- 60 metres: 1926, 1927
- 100 metres: 1928, 1932, 1934, 1935
- 200 metres: 1927–1929, 1932, 1934, 1935
- 400 metres: 1923, 1924
- 800 metres: 1928, 1929
- 1000 metres: 1927
- 4 × 100 metres relay: 1926–1928, 1935
- Long jump: 1924, 1927
- High jump: 1927
- Shot put: 1923, 1924
- Triathlon (100 metres, long jump, and shot put): 1935
National records
Radziulytė held the following national records:[3]
- 60 metres: three times, from 8.5 seconds in 1926 to 8.1 seconds in 1929
- 100 metres: four times, from 14.9 seconds in 1924 to 13.3 seconds in 1935
- 200 metres: four times, from 29.4 seconds in 1927 to 27.9 seconds in 1934
- 400 metres: three times, from 1:13.7 in 1923 to 1:07.4 in 1932
- 800 metres: twice, from 2:46.3 in 1928 to 2:45.2 in 1929
- 4 × 100 metres relay: 57.2 seconds in 1927
- Long jump: 4.32 metres in 1926
- High jump: twice, 1.30 and 1.31 metres in 1927
- Shot put: four times, from 7.60 metres in 1924 to 9.04 metres in 1931
- Javelin throw: 21.62 metres in 1924
- Triathlon (100 metres, long jump, and shot put): 939 points in 1935