KK Olimpas is a basketball team based in

Plungė Plungė (; Samogitian: ''Plongė''; ) is a city in Lithuania with 17,252 inhabitants. Plunge is the capital of the Plungė District Municipality which has 33,251 inhabitants (2022). Two parts of the city are separated by the Babrungas River and ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The team currently competes in the third-tier Regional Basketball League (RKL). The club previously competed in the first-tier

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

(LKL) and second-tier National Basketball League (NKL).

History

The team was founded in 1989. In 1993, the club competed in the

(LKL), falling to

BC Lavera Basketball club Lavera () was a basketball club located in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was founded in 1991 and participated in the first two seasons of the Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lith ...

in the quarterfinals. The team was led by

Augenijus Vaškys Augenijus Vaškys is a retired Lithuanian professional basketball player. He has played professionally in Lithuania, Israel, Poland, Estonia and Finland. Vaskys' most successful seasons include playing in Poland in Czarni Slupsk as well in Eston ...

, who averaged the highest number of points per game for that season – 22.9. The next season, the team signed two Americans – Patrick Jones and Tim Brooks. The team finished in seventh place in the group stage, upsetting Žalgiris Kaunas and

Atletas Kaunas FK Atletas Kaunas (former:LKKA ir Teledema) was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas. The majority of the players was recruited from the Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education. LKKA ir Teledema earned promotion to the A Lyga, Lithu ...

in the last few group stage games to secure a ticket to the LKL playoffs. However, the team again lost in the quarterfinals, this time to the star–studded BC Atletas 2–1. Patrick Jones, who was second in the league in points per game with 24.4, left the team before the start of the 1995–1996 season. He was replaced by the Canadian sharpshooter Joey Vickery, who continued the Olimpas tradition of nearly leading the LKL in points per game with 21.7. After a successful run in the group stage, the team finally won the quarterfinal match and advanced to the semifinal, where it lost to Žalgiris in two close matches. The team also participated in the

FIBA European Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...

Second Qualifying Round that season, losing to

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

. The team opened a new chapter in its history the following season by merging with the LKKA champion

BC Mažeikiai M Basket Mažeikiai (), also known as M Basket-Delamode Mažeikiai for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Mažeikiai, Lithuania. The club finished as a runner-up in the 2022–23 National Basketball League season, whi ...

and forming BC Žemaitijos Lokiai, or Žemaitijos Olimpas, as the team was known in the LKL. The team lost many of its leaders; Vickery and Brooks left the team, as well as head coach Rimantas Endrijaitis, who successfully coached Olimpas for two seasons. The team, however, acquired new talent: Latvian Olympian

Igors Miglinieks Igors Miglinieks (born 4 May 1964) is a retired Soviet Union, Soviet and Latvian professional basketball player and basketball coach, coach. He played at the point guard and shooting guard positions. Professional career Miglinieks was a member of ...

, American center Willie B. Kelly, and former Mažeikiai leader Darius Staugaitis. With those players at the helm, the team won the 1997 Korać Cup qualifying round against

Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia (country), Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its Association football, football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating ...

, but finished third in the preliminary round and did not advance further. Coaching changes in the middle of the season brought

Valdemaras Chomičius Valdemaras Chomičius (also known as Valdemaras Homicius; born 4 May 1959) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player for the Soviet and Lithuanian national basketball team, and an assistant coach for the Lithuanian national team. A ...

and Jeremiah Walker into the team, with the former serving as a playing coach. Chomičius' team made it to the LKL finals for the first time in its history, where it lost to Žalgiris Kaunas in three games. Such success in the LKL guaranteed Žemaitijos Lokiai a spot in the

for the 1997–1998 season. Although the team lost Miglinieks, Kelly, Walker and Staugaitis, it celebrated Brooks' return, who had spent the year playing in France. Brooks and Vaškys led the team in its efforts to advance to the second round of the European Cup; however, they were not enough as the team finished in fifth place in the group stage with 2 wins and 8 losses.FIBAEurope
/ref> The team's performance in the LKL also waned; the team lost to

Lietuvos rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is ...

in the quarterfinals. In 1998, the team's name was changed back to Olimpas Plungė. Financial difficulties forced the team to forego participation in the LKL, participating in the 1998-1999 season in the second-tier LKAL, and later, participating in minor leagues. Olimpas was reestablished in 2011 and participated in the third-tier

RKL Rich Kids on LSD (RKL) is a Californian hardcore punk band formed in 1982 in Montecito, California, a suburb of Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara. They were associated with Punk rock in California#Nardcore, the "Nardcore" scene of West Co ...

. The very first season, Olimpas finished first in the league and was promoted to the NKL.

Notable players

(1993–1998) *

Mindaugas Pranckevičius Mindaugas (, , , , ; c. 1203 – 12 September 1263) was the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or rise to power; he is mentioned in a 1219 treaty as an elder ...

(1993–1998) *

Evaldas Jocys Evaldas Jocys (born 25 May 1975 in Plungė, Lithuanian SSR) is a former Lithuanian professional basketball player. He last played for his hometown team Olimpas Plungė. College career Jocys played in the NCAA Division I's East Carolina Pirat ...

(1993–1996; 1997; 2011–2013) *

Darius Staugaitis Darius may refer to: Persian royalty ;Kings of the Achaemenid Empire * Darius I (the Great, 550 to 487 BC) * Darius II (423 to 404 BC) * Darius III (Codomannus, 380 to 330 BC) ;Crown princes * Darius (son of Xerxes I), crown prince of Persia, ma ...

(1996–1997) *

(1996–1998) *

Romanas Brazdauskis Romanas Brazdauskis (born February 20, 1964, in Kretinga) is a former basketball player from Lithuania, who won the bronze medal with the Lithuania national basketball team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. His son, Lukas Brazdaus ...

(1997–1998) * Tim Brooks (1994–1996; 1997–1998) * Patrick Jones (1994–1995) *

Jeremiah Walker Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance and ...

(1996–1997) * Joey Vickery (1995–1996) *

(1996–1997)

Head coaches

* Genadijus Glikmanas (1990–1994) * Rimantas Endrijaitis (1994–1996) * Henrikas Giedraitis (1996) *

(1996–1998) * Genadijus Glikmanas (1998) * Alidas Žukauskas (2011–present)

References

External links

Official website (Lithuanian)

EuroBasket.net profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olimpas Plunge Basketball teams in Lithuania Sport in Plungė