100 years ago, Lithuania made its Olympic debut. At the Pershing Stadium in Paris, the Lithuanian football team took on the Swiss, who would go on to become Olympic runners-up. Coincidentally, one hundred years later, destiny brought Lithuanian representatives back to the French capital. 

This time the Lithuanian expedition would be larger and more diverse, but in 1924 it consisted of a hastily assembled football team and cyclists: Juozas Vilpišauskas and Isakas Anolikas from Šiauliai, who took part in the 188 km road race in Paris. This was the beginning of the Lithuanian Olympic movement.

"Neither our football team nor our cyclists managed to win anything back then. But that was just the beginning of our Olympic journey," said Gudzinevičiūtė in an interview with LTOK.lt. "Time is the best judge of the true lasting value of events, and our Olympic sport has been on a truly special journey for over a hundred years," the President added. 

Daina Gudzinevičiūtė knows well what it takes to be an Olympic athlete. She was the shooting champion at Sydney 2000.
So it has been a hundred years since Lithuania became part of the Olympic movement and represented its country at the world's most important sporting event. However, sport itself is not only about records and the limits of human potential," said the President. "It is important that sports stars and good results inspire our growing generation to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors."

The change is so great that a century ago it was very difficult to understand the importance of representing your country at an Olympic event, but today everything is much more accessible. Everything is at your fingertips. "We already have the ability to watch live broadcasts in real time, wherever we are, and we can quickly get the latest impressions and capture the athlete's emotions," she said. All of this brings the Olympic Games even closer to all of us.

The facts are the facts. Since 1924, Lithuanian athletes have competed in a total of 27 sports: 22 summer and five winter sports. This year, a Lithuanian will even be competing in breakdancing for the first time in Paris. This will be the twenty-eighth sport in which Lithuania is represented at the Olympic Games.

Gudzinevičiūtė is in no doubt about the importance of Olympic athletes "as ambassadors of a civic, united society" and for the transmission of their best practices to the younger generation. "In general, Olympic education is one of the strategic areas of activity of the International Olympic Committee. Olympic education makes a significant contribution to improving youth employment and using sport as an educational tool," she said.

The importance and value of the creation of the Olympic Games and the spirit of Pierre de Coubertin, who revived the modern Olympic Games, was recalled by the President of the Lithuanian Olympic Committee. The need to see them as a tool for peace between countries was his main idea, but today the functions and missions of the Olympic Games have expanded. Gender equality is one of them. At the first Olympic Games in Paris in 1900, women competed in only two sports. 

 At the 2024 Olympic Games, which will once again be held in the French capital, full gender equality will be achieved, with 50% men and 50% women participating. "This is a major achievement for the entire sporting community.It is something historic," she added.

However, Gudzinevičiūtė reflects and looks back. She analyses what these one hundred years of Olympism have been like and recognises the progress made on a social and sporting level. "This can be seen first and foremost in the Olympic records, and the reasons for this are many: from more efficient training, where a consistent methodology based on scientific knowledge allows athletes to reach their peak performance", she said.