The glow of the medals faded in the heat of Qatar. In 2019, Lithuanian track and field athletes did not lack victories and impressive records, but most of the team members did not realize their potential at the World Championships in Doha.
It was an ambiguous year for track and field athletes outside the stadium as well - despite the beginning of the reconstruction of the Vilnius Maniež, the situation in the capital still remains tragic, and the questionable distribution of funds from the sports support fund is worrying.
About the most relevant events of the year in athletics - an interview with LLAF president Eimantas Skrabulis.
- Another year of track and field athletes has passed. Let's start with the sports results: impressive Lithuanian records fell, victories in the European Sports Walking Cup, the European Under-23 Championship, but the World Championship in Doha was not successful. How do you assess the year of Lithuanian track and field athletes?, lengvoji.lt asked E. Skrabulis.
- It is difficult to answer such a question, because there are many different assessments and thoughts. The season was very long - it started in April and ended in October. It's hard to say unilaterally whether the season was good or disappointing because it was so varied. We had many beautiful achievements - starting with Airinė's medal in Glasgow, Agnė Šerkšnienė was also very close to the medal, a great competition of the European Sports Walking Cup, which ended with the victory of our Živilė Vaiciukevičiūtė. During the season, very high-level Lithuanian records were achieved - perhaps the most pleasant surprise was the men's javelin throw record, with which Edis Matusevičius broke into the world elite. A very nice fight took place in the triple jump - many times it was jumped further than the Lithuanian record that existed until this year. Diana Zagainova achieved a great result and deservedly won the European Under-23 Championship.
At the same time, such a long season exhausted the athletes. It was extremely long, and that kind of experience - to reach two peaks in a season - is really not much. On the other hand, one of our strongest athletes was injured during the season. An injury cannot be said to be a mistake by the athlete, the coach or the training process. These are stupid coincidences - Andrii Gudzis underwent an operation to remove a plate from his foot, which messed up the preparation. He wasn't healthy, but he wasn't injured. In the case of Irish, I feel the guilt of my federation, because she suffered an injury not through her fault, but because of an unprepared sector. Agnė Šerkšnienė was more supervised by the Swiss, and the only Brigita Virbalytė worked very hard under our supervision and suffered an injury. Four people who are among the leaders of the national team could not fully prepare and start in Doha.
Doha was obviously disappointed with our results. Those medals were forgotten during the course of the season because of the last, most important start. The final chord of the season was ringing - Alexander Sorokin's world championship title. Yes, the 24-hour race is not an Olympic event, but we have a world champion in a very tough event. The season could have been better, but it gives a lot of hope for the future.
- Every year we talk about the problem of sports bases. This year we have a slightly different situation - Beautiful stadium reconstruction works are underway, the arena is being renovated in Vilnius. Are you satisfied with such changes? How do you assess the fact that Vilnius track and field athletes will not have a sports base in winter?
- The situation is absolutely unsatisfactory, catastrophic and incomprehensible to common sense. What is happening in Lithuania with sports bases is a tragedy. If Kaunas somehow manages to implement the decisions and I think that we will have a quality stadium there soon, then Vilnius, the main city of the country, has a tragic situation. Many stadiums have been introduced in the country, but their construction in towns where there is no equipment, no athletes, no coaches raises the question of whether it was done purposefully. First of all, we need to solve the issue of the bases, where are the athletes, sports schools and those who want to play sports. What has been happening in Vilnius for endless years is a tragedy.
We don't have playgrounds, and what we had didn't meet any standards. Tallinn has three stables, the worst of which is better than the one we had in Vilnius. God grant that the Vilnius maniež becomes a body and we don't have to wait for it for 10 years. You have to live now and protect those kids who are still in the sport. A few years ago, a fantastic plan was prepared with a good financing model to reconstruct the Vilnius playhouse into a completely new one, but that plan was buried in the corridors of officials. Every official I've had to deal with either did nothing or hurt the sport. I have no doubt that the renovated playpen will be better than it was, but we need three or four of these and they would all be full.
– This year, the Federation organized the European Sports Walking Cup and contributed to the organization of the second "JUMP Vilnius". What impressions did the guests take away from Alytus and what is your opinion about the growing popularity of street athletics?
- One of the main missions of the federation is to develop athletics. We understand this not only as ensuring the achievement of our best athletes, but also promoting them through various events. What happened in Alytus left a great impression on the guests. The weather conditions also helped, they were fantastic, the atmosphere was good.
We have to think a little unconventionally, and JUMP Vilnius was an example of that unconventional thinking. We have come closer to the city's residents and guests - to the very heart of Vilnius. We organize interesting exhibition competitions for both children and amateurs, during which hundreds of children tried various athletics events. Few cities in the world organize this type of competition, and specialists are surprised that we, together with our partners "Sportland", the Vilnius City Municipality and the ambassador of the event, Airina Palšyte, manage to do it. However, the attitude of the Sports Sponsorship Fund is very surprising (the JUMP Vilnius project was not funded - lengvoji.lt) and the way the funds are distributed there is an absolute waste. Either this is done on purpose or it shows absolute incompetence. The way funds are distributed has nothing to do with sports or physical activity.
- Last week, it was reported that there will be no discus throw and triple jump events relevant to Lithuania in the Diamond League. Do you justify the changes initiated by the International Association of Athletics Federations?
- Those who pay money order music. You have to look a little wider than the coaches of athletes. The discus throw is one of the most important events for us, as it has historically been. We have world-class discus players and we would be much more pleased to have the discus and triple jump on the list of events in the Diamond League. However, this is only a list of events for 2020 and we don't know what they will be like in a year. World athletics is also looking for ways to stay interesting for spectators, sponsors, and television. We want our strong matches to be in the program, but we don't have the slightest influence to change something and it would be stupid to think that the federation will change something by screaming and getting angry. There are organizers of individual stages and they pay money, bonuses. They decide with the international federation what can be the most interesting at a given time and I think that is not the status quo. It is not ethical to say that this is a crime, but communicating with the organizers and making your suggestions is necessary.
- A look at the upcoming Olympic Games. Normally, the national track and field team makes up a quarter of the entire Olympic team. We had three finals in Rio de Janeiro and the highest place was 10th. Do you believe that the Tokyo Games will be more successful than three years ago?
- I have reason to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will definitely be more successful for our country's track and field athletes than in Rio de Janeiro. As of today, we have four formal candidates to go to the Olympic Games, but I believe that the national team will be as numerous as it has been so far, and the team will not only be numerous, but also fight for the very top places in the world in certain events. Our leaders will analyze mistakes, heal injuries and be in top form in Tokyo. The conditions at the World Cup in Doha, in terms of climate, temperature and humidity, were similar to those that can await in Tokyo. We already know that the endurance events - the walk and the marathon - will be moved out of Tokyo and held somewhere slightly cooler. The performances at the world championships may have scared those who were not immersed in the real situation, but it was the bottom from which our athletes will bounce back and we will have many great results at the Olympic Games.
