Donata Karalienė (, born 11 June 1989) is a Lithuanian

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

and Olympic bronze medalist at the Rio 2016 Games. She is also known for winning gold medals at the

2013 World Rowing Championships The 2013 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 25 August to 1 September 2013 at Tangeum Lake, Chungju in South Korea. The annual week-long rowing (sport), rowing regatta was organized by International Row ...

, and the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

European Rowing Championships The European Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organised by World Rowing (named FISA until 2020) for European rowing nations, plus Israel, which, though not a member of the European federation, is treated as a European n ...

Career

Karalienė, competing under her maiden name Vištartaitė, had a successful junior career, finishing 6th at her first Junior World Championships in 2006, and following that by winning a bronze medal at the 2007 World Junior Championships and gold at the 2010 and 2011 Under 23 World Championships. Karalienė won the women's single sculls at the 2012 European Championships, having won bronze the year before. Switching to the double sculls, Karalienė teamed up with

Milda Valčiukaitė Milda Valčiukaitė (born 24 May 1994) is a Lithuanian national representative rower, an Olympian and dual world champion. She won the women's double scull title alongside Ieva Adomavičiūtė at the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv. S ...

. The pair went unbeaten in their first season, winning the 2013 World Championships and the 2013 European Championships. Following this, the team narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2014 World Championships, but won the silver medal at the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and 2015 European Championships. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Karalienė and Valčiukaitė won the bronze medal in the women's double sculls, Lithuania's first women's rowing medal since 2000.

Biography

Karalienė was originally a track athlete, competing in the middle distance events. When her coach stopped coaching, she continued without support. A rowing coach visited her home town looking for talented athletes with the potential to become rowers. He convinced her to take up rowing. She was very successful, winning the Lithuanian junior championships after only one year of rowing training. Because of this success, she was invited to attend a sports boarding school in Kaunas. Studying in

Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education Lithuanian Sports University or LSU is a university in Kaunas, Lithuania, specializing in sports, physical activities, and physiology. It is headquartered in Žaliakalnis neighbourhood, in close proximity to the Kaunas Sports Hall and the S. Dar ...

.LTOK žurnalas
/ref> She lives in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karaliene, Donata Lithuanian female rowers 21st-century Lithuanian sportswomen 1989 births Living people Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers for Lithuania Lithuanian Sportsperson of the Year winners World Rowing Championships medalists for Lithuania Olympic bronze medalists for Lithuania Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics FISU World University Games gold medalists for Lithuania Summer World University Games medalists in rowing European Rowing Championships medalists Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade