Olympic development and international collaboration
One of the main directions of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee is international collaboration and expansion. These concepts include the implementation of goals, programs, and projects of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the European Olympic Committees (EOC), the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and other international organizations, the improvement of quality of preparation of Lithuanian athletes and sports specialists, as well as raising their qualification.
International collaboration and expansion, as well as projects’ implementation and supervision, is the responsibility of the LNOC Foreign Relations Directorate. The main fields of activity of this Directorate are as follows:
- Implementing the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020 programs and projects of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and the European Olympic Committees (EOC);
- Developing and expanding the activities of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Entourage Commission;
- Communicating and collaborating with other national Olympic committees;
- Arranging Lithuanian athletes’ participation in international sports events.
- Organizing and implementing programs for raising the qualification of athletes, coaches, sports administrators and managers, and medical staff.
- Coordinating and supervising international projects of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee.
- Coordinating and carrying out internal training of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee staff.
- Collaborating with foreign embassies in Lithuania on sports development matters.
The activities of the LNOC Foreign Relations Directorate are carried out through programs of Olympic Solidarity and projects funded by the European Union and the LNOC.
Improvement of the quality of sports specialists’ training and raising their qualifications is defined and presented as the LNOC training.
The LNOC Foreign Relations Directorate is led by its director Vaida Mačianskienė and project manager Agnė Vanagienė.
Other international activities:
Visit of IOC President Thomas Bach
- Awards Ceremony
On October 9-10, 2017, the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach came for a visit to Lithuania. The leader of the Olympic sport arrived in Vilnius to congratulate the LNOC on the occasion of its 25th anniversary of returning to the Olympic family.
The LNOC President Daina Gudzinevičiūtė together with the Prime Minister S. Skvernelis presented the IOC President with the LNOC’s highest award – the Medal of Honor.
- Bach not only received an award himself but also handed awards to others. Nine years after the Beijing Summer Olympics, the IOC President presented the wrestler Mindaugas Mizgaitis with a silver medal. At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the Lithuanian heavyweight athlete won bronze, however, following the disqualification of the Russian silver medal winner for the use of prohibited substances, he became an Olympic vice-champion. The wrestler was also congratulated by Prime Minister S. Skvernelis and the LNOC President D. Gudzinevičiūtė, also in his honor the Olympic Hymn and the Lithuanian National Anthem were played.
- The IOC President met the President of the Republic of Lithuania
On October 10, IOC President Thomas Bach visited Lithuania’s Presidential Palace and discussed the most pressing sports issues with the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė.
The President of Lithuania and the leader of Olympic sports, Olympic fencing champion Thomas Bach discussed some of the most important strategic directions outlined in the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020 – transparency, anti-doping, and gender equality in sports. They also talked about the achievements of Lithuanian athletes, and their preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics, and discussed the LNOC’s projects aimed at promoting Olympic education, cultivating Olympic values, and encouraging women’s leadership.
International activities and achievements of the LNOC leaders:
Artūras Poviliūnas (1988 – 2012)
- 2013-2015 – member of the Coordination Commission of the European Games.
Daina Gudzinevičiūtė
- 2013-2014 – appointed as a member of the EOC Gender Equality in Sport Commission;
- 2014-2017 – appointed as the Chair of the Gender Equality in Sport Commission;
- 2014 – elected by secret ballot as a member of the Executive Committee of the European Olympic Committees Association;
- 2016 – the first newsletter of the EOC Gender Equality in Sport Commission;
- 2016-2017 – two newsletters published by the EOC Commission on Gender Equality in Sport (second and third);
- 2017 – reelected as a member of the Executive Committee of the European Olympic Committees Association;
- 2018 – IOC award “Women and Sport”;
- 2018 – became a member of the IOC;
- 2019 – elected as a member of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Coordination Commission.
- 2021 – elected Vice-President of the EOC