Rimantas Bagdonas ; born November 25, 1938, in

Biržai Biržai (, also known by several alternative names) is a city in northern Lithuania. Famous for its reconstructed Biržai Castle manor, the whole region is renowned for its many traditional-recipe beer breweries. Name The exact origin of th ...

) is a Lithuanian wrestler (

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), or classic wrestling (Euro-English) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been i ...

).Литовскому патриарху греко-римской борьбы – 70
November 19, 2009RIMANTAS BAGDONAS graikų-romėnų imtynininkas
/ref> He is the only Lithuanian wrestler who became a world champion (1965). He was also the only one Lithuanian who was a champion of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, twice (1961, 1963), and several times champion of the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

.Valdas Malinauskas
Rimantas Bagdonas – vienintelis Lietuvos imtynininkas, tapęs pasaulio čempionu
/ref>

Biography

In 1941 his mother was accused of anti-Soviet activities and exiled to Siberia, where she spent 23 years. But when Rimantas became 15 years old he decided to run away and returned to Lithuania after 11 years of exile. Since because of his age he didn't need passport, hist history was unknown to the authorities. He settled with his relatives in

Raseiniai Raseiniai (; Samogitian dialect, Samogitian: ''Raseinē'') is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the A1 highway (Lithuania), Kaunas–Klaipėda highway. History Grand ...

district. His father emigrated to the United States after the war and mother joined him after returning form the exile. Bagdonas started his studies at the

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Institute of Physical Education, but decided to continue his education in Lithuania. He was accepted at the second year of the Department of Journalism of the Vilnius State University. After he became World Champion in 1965, it had eventually become known to the authorities of his relatives abroad, he was banned from leaving the Soviet Union for 10 years, so he could not go to the world championship next year. He left active sports in 1971.

Awards and reconginition

*Since 2000, R. Bagdonas's international Greco-Roman wrestling tournaments have been held in Vilnius annually. *The Olympic Star of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee (2003) *Officer's Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania (2004) * Kūno kultūros ir sporto departamento Sporto garbės komandoro ženklas (2008) *''Charta Solemnis'' award of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagdonas, Rimantas 1938 births Living people Lithuanian wrestlers Soviet wrestlers World Wrestling Champions People from Biržai Sportspeople from Panevėžys County Officer's Crosses of the Order for Merits to Lithuania