Lina Kačiušytė (born 1 January 1963 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...

) is a Lithuanian swimmer who competed for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, winner of a gold medal in 200 m breaststroke with the Olympic record time of 2:29:54 at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Biography

She trained at the VSS ''Žalgiris'' in Vilnius.Profile in the Olympic Encyclopedia
/ref> Her first coach from 1974 to 1977, Arvydas Gražiūnas, saw her great potential and guided her in the right direction. By 1976 she was invited to train with the USSR's youth swimming team and, within a year promoted to the USSR National Team. Following another year of hard training, she was ready for the 1978 World Championships of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. She surprised everyone by winning the 200 m breaststroke and setting two world records: one in the prelims, defeating world record holder and teammate Yuliya Bogdanova, the second when winning the gold medal in the finals. She set the world record a third time the following year at the USSR vs. DDR Dual Meet in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

, a record that stood from 1979 through 1985 when it was finally broken by East Germany's Silke Hörner. Kačiušytė was the first female breaststroke swimmer to go under the 2 minute 30 second barrier for the 200 meter event. In 1998 she was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the s ...

References

External links

YouTube heat 200 m breaststroke Olympic Games -80

YouTube heat 100 m breaststroke Olympic Games -80
* * * 1963 births Lithuanian female breaststroke swimmers Living people Olympic swimmers of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Soviet female breaststroke swimmers Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Lithuanian Sportsperson of the Year winners Sportspeople from Vilnius Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Universiade medalists in swimming Universiade gold medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade {{USSR-Olympic-medalist-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links