Virgilijus Alekna (; 13 February 1972) is a Lithuanian former

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by t ...

er 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 The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...

, in 2016. He has 3 children - Martynas Alekna, Mykolas Alekna and Gabrielė Aleknaite.

Athletics career

Alekna has won two gold medals in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

in the

, the first was in 2000 and the second in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. He also won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. In 2007, he was appointed as

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Champion for Sport. His personal record as well as the Lithuanian record is 73.88

meters The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pre ...

(242 ft 4½ in), surpassed only by the world record (74.08). Virgilius Alekna Berlin 2009

Alekna was awarded the title of the Athlete of the Year for 2000 by

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runnin ...

. He was also awarded the

Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this O ...

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. He is married to former long jumper Kristina Sablovskytė-Aleknienė and has two sons named Martynas and Mykolas, also discus throwers. At a height of 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in), Alekna has an unusually long armspan, measured 2.22m (7 ft 3.5 in), which is helpful in discus throwing. He can make fingerprints on windows of two opposite sides of a bus simultaneously. 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 Eglė Šilinskaitė
Nenugalimąjį metiką įveikė kojos trauma (Unbeatable thrower was defeat by leg injury)
Retrieved on 2007-08-29 and, as a result, suffered a defeat, which broke his 37 victories in a row over the past two years. In 2017 Alekna was awarded the European Athletics Lifetime Achievement award.

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. He lost the run-off in Naujamiestis single-member constituency, but was elected to the Twelfth Seimas through the electoral list of the party, where he was rated second.Į Seimą nepateko nė vienas liberalo Remigijaus Šimašiaus valdomo Vilniaus liberalas
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References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Alekna, Virgilijus 1972 births Living people Lithuanian male discus throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Lithuanian Sportsperson of the Year winners Lithuanian masters athletes Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Lithuania Olympic bronze medalists for Lithuania Olympic gold medalists for Lithuania Recipients of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas World Athletics Championships athletes for Lithuania World Athletics Championships medalists World record holders in masters athletics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Members of the Seimas 21st-century Lithuanian politicians Goodwill Games medalists in athletics European Athlete of the Year winners Recipients of the European Athletics Lifetime Achievement Award Track & Field News Athlete of the Year winners Diamond League winners World Athletics Championships winners IAAF World Athletics Final winners Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games Lithuanian Sports University alumni