About the Games
The second European Games in Minsk were attended by 4082 athletes from 50 countries. They competed in 199 events.
Most medals won (from a total of 43 teams) by: 1. Russia – 109 (44, 23, 42), 2. Belarus – 69 (24, 26, 29), 3. Ukraine – 51 (16, 17, 18), … 29. Lithuania – 3 (2, 1, 0).
Lithuania in the Games
In Minsk 2019 European Games Lithuania was represented by 72 athletes. During the Opening ceremony, the Lithuanian national flag was carried by javelin thrower Liveta Jasiūnaitė. The ceremony that took place in the packed Olympic Minsk’s Dinamo stadium featured more Lithuanian accents.
In theatric performances enriched with VR elements, the Belorussians presented the history of their country and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which used to cover the present territory of Belarus, as well as its ruler Vytautas the Great and one of the most prominent figures of the GDL Lew Sapieha.
Our country’s athletes won medals in nearby arenas.
Track cyclists Simona Krupeckaitė and Miglė Marozaitė were the first to climb the victory podium on June 27th after winning silver in the team race event. A day later the Lithuanian national anthem was played again to honor Simona Krupeckaitė and her victory in the keirin event.
On the last day of the Games gymnast Robert Tvorogal bested all his opponents in the horizontal bar finals and won the gold medal. He also was 5th in the parallel bars event.
Many Lithuanian athletes were among the top 8 finishers:
Andrejus Olijnikas and Ričardas Nekriošius were 4th in the canoeing competition that took place in the Zaslawye Regatta Course, Arturas Seja was 5th (K-1 200 m event), Vadimas Krobovas – 8th (C1 1000 m event).
Cyclist M. Marozaitė placed 5th in the 500 m individual race event, Olivija Baleišytė was 8th in the scratch event, and S. Krupeckaitė and Vasilijus Lendelis were among the top 8 in the individual sprint quarterfinals. Gediminas Bagdonas won 5th place in the road time trial cycling event.
High jumper Adrijus Glebauskas was 5th in the individual rankings of the track and field athletics competition, and javelin thrower Liveta Jasiūnaitė placed 7th. In the mixed-distance pursuit relay event, the Lithuanian team also placed 7th.
Danutė Domikaitytė was 5th in the women’s wrestling event.
The Lithuanian basketball 3×3 team consisting of Paulius Semaška, Medas Kuprijanovas, Aurelijus Pukelis, and Mintautas Bulanovas reached the quarterfinals but was defeated by Poland. In the final rankings, the Lithuanians shared 5th-8th places with three other teams.
Interesting facts
The participants of the Minsk 2019 European Games competed in the events of 23 different disciplines of 15 sports.
During some of the events qualification opportunities for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were available. Such opportunities were offered during badminton, cycling, judo, karate, track and field athletics, table tennis, shooting, and archery events.
The Minks 2015 European Games replaced the Boxing European Championship and the Judo European Championship, therefore during the awards ceremony the winners were awarded 2 medals – one for the European Games and one for the European Championship. The European Games also replaced the Canoe Sprint European Championships, as a separate European Championship was not held in 2019.
The participants of the Games stayed in students’ dormitories situated in Čiurlionis street and nearby streets.
The Opening and Closing ceremonies, as well as track and field competitions, took place at National Olympic Stadium Dinamo, where in 1980 several football matches of the Moscow Summer Olympics were played.
In the European Games, a new track and field competition format was introduced. Men’s, women’s, 100 m sprint, hurdles, and 4×400 mixed relay events were held as usual, while in men’s high jumping, women’s long jumping and javelin throwing events participants competed in duels – they were put in groups of three, competed for each other once, and later, based on the result achieved, met their opponents again in the fight for final places.
The winner of each event received 12 points, the second-best athlete – 10 points, 3rd place – 8 points, 4th place – 6 points, 5th place – 4 points, and 6th place – 2 points.
At the end of the competition, a pursuit relay was held, where the team’s starting position was determined according to the results of previous events. Points were turned into seconds, therefore leaders would start the competition first, followed by teams with poorer results. In this relay men ran the distances of 800 m and 400 m, and women – 600 m and 200 m.
Track and field athletes competed for 4 days. On the 1st day, the qualification competition took place. Its results determined the individual rankings of each athlete. The following day the athletes competed in the quarter-finals, then in the semifinals, and on the last day – in the finals where 6 strongest teams competed for the team awards.
Official website of Minsk 2019 European Games: