The city of Šiauliai played host to the country’s celebration of Olympic Day , together with the 100th anniversary of the Lithuanian Olympic Movement, last Saturday in a festival with more than a hundred different sports and entertainment activities. 20,000 people are estimated to have attended the day-long event for a chance try out various sports, chat with professional athletes, meet national Olympians, engage in games and tournaments, and join educational and Olympic educational events.
The festivities started with a symbolic relay of the festival fire from the Sukilėliai Hill, passing along the Šiauliai Boulevard, and leading towards the main stage of the event at the Iron Fox. This year the honour of carrying the torch was conferred on seven athletes: Olympians Eglė Balčiūnaitė, Edvinas Ramanauskas, Paulius Viktoravičius, Santa Pakenytė-Čepulė, Remalda Kergytė-Dauskurdienė, and Paralympians Mindaugas Bilius and Raimeda Bučinskytė, who completed the relay by handing the torch over to Lithuanian National Olympic Committee (LNOC) President Daina Gudzinevičiūtė.
Paralympic discus thrower Mr. Bilius emphasised that it was particularly important that both Olympic and Paralympic athletes carried the torch saying it was “very important for the whole community.”
Olympic runner Balčiūnaitė and canoeist Ramanauskas tried out other Olympic sports and participated in fencing, table volleyball and cornball. They also ran the Lithuanian Olympic Mile, while Balčiūnaitė participated in the 10k with cross-country skier Tautvydas Strolia and rower Saulius Ritter. Ramanauskas’ whole family took part in the celebrations.
“I ran the Olympic mile together with my eldest son, while my little one chose the 600 m. distance. My wife helped me take the participants in the Dragon boats on Lake Talkša. It was great that we could all contribute to this beautiful celebration,” he said, according to a press release by the LNOC.
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Balčiūnaitė was delighted that this year’s Olympic Day was taking place in her hometown attracting so many participants and said it was a great honour to host a real centenary celebration and hopes they have set the bar quite high for other cities. The city’s, Artūras Visockas, was also grateful for the chance.
“It is gratifying to see not only the residents of Šiauliai taking part in sport and interested in the Olympic movement, but also thousands of guests from all over Lithuania. We appreciate very much the opportunity to host in the City of Sun the most massive sport and entertainment event in Lithuania,” the Mayor said.
After the awards ceremony, Mayor Visockas symbolically handed over the flag of the Olympic Day to the Vice-Mayor of Klaipėda Lina Šukytė-Korsakė where the next Olympic Day will be held. The celebration was crowned by a concert by Donatas Montvydas and his band.