Virgilijus Alekna
Lithuanian discus thrower and politician
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Virgilijus Alekna (Lithuanian pronunciation: [vʲɪrʲˈɡʲɪlʲɪjʊs ɐlʲɛkˈnɐ]; 13 February 1972) is a Lithuanian former discus thrower and politician. He won medals at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics, including two golds.
After retiring from athletics, Alekna was elected to the national parliament, the Seimas, in 2016.[citation needed]
He has three children – Martynas Alekna, the discus world record holder Mykolas Alekna, and Gabrielė Aleknaite.[1]
Athletics career
Alekna has won two gold medals in the Summer Olympics in the discus throw, the first was in 2000 and the second in 2004. He also won the bronze medal for the same event at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. In 2007, he was appointed as UNESCO Champion for Sport.
Alekna's personal record is 73.88 m (242 ft 4+1⁄2 in), surpassed only by the former world record of 74.08 meters, set by Jürgen Schult in 1986, and his son Mykolas's current world record of 74.35 meters, achieved in 2024.[2] His 20-year Olympic record of 69.89 meters, set in Athens 2004, was broken twice at the Paris 2024 Olympics — first by his son Mykolas with a throw of 69.97 meters, and then by Rojé Stona with a throw of 70.0 meters.[3]
Major performances
| 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 | Lithuanian Athletics Championships | 1 | 73.88 (NR) |
| 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[4] | 69.89 (OR) |
| 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 |
| 2007 | World Athletics Final | 2 | 65.94 |
| 2008 | Summer Olympics | 3 | 67.79 |
| 2008 | World Athletics Final | 8 | 61.03 |
| 2009 | World Championship | 4 | 66.36 |
| 2009 | World Athletics Final | 1 | 67.63 |
| 2010 | European Championship | 5 | 64.64 |
| 2011 | World Championship | 6 | 64.09 |
| 2012 | Summer Olympics | 4 | 67.38 |
| 2013 | World Championship | 16 | 61.91 |
| 2014 | European Championship | 21 | 59.35 |
Honors
Alekna was awarded the title of the Athlete of the Year for 2000 by Track and Field News. He was also awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas by the government of Lithuania. He became the Lithuanian Sportsman of the Year 4 times (2000, 2004, 2005, and 2006). Since 1995 Alekna has served as a bodyguard of the Lithuanian Prime Minister. In 2017 Alekna was awarded the European Athletics Lifetime Achievement award.[5][6]
Personal life
Physiology
At a height of 2.02 m (6 ft 7+1⁄2 in), Alekna has an unusually long armspan, measured 2.24 m (7 ft 4 in), which is helpful in discus throwing. He can make fingerprints on windows of two opposite sides of a bus simultaneously.[7]
During the 2007 World Championship Virgilijus Alekna competed with an injury. Having sustained the injury on 20 August, he competed in the World Championship's qualification on 28 August[8] and, as a result, suffered a defeat, which broke his 37 victories in a row over the past two years.[8]
Political career
In May 2016, Alekna announced he would participate in the elections to the Seimas the following October on the electoral list of the opposition Liberal Movement, without joining the party.[9] He lost the run-off in Naujamiestis single-member constituency,[10] but was elected to the Twelfth Seimas through the electoral list of the party, where he was rated second.[citation needed]
