Lithuanian Olympic Committee Congratulates Lithuanian Makabi on Wins at European Maccabi Games

Lithuania’s National Olympic Committee have sent their congratulations to the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club on the latter’s outstanding showing at the 15th European Maccabi Games held in Budapest in early August. Makabi Club president and head of delegation Semionas Finkelšteinas said their win was unprecedented both in the last hundred years of Lithuanian Jewish sporting history and in Lithuanian athletics overall.

The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club teams contain many young people, which might explain their outstanding recent victories and should insure many more victories to come.

This year Lithuanian Makabi athletes took home around 62 medals, 25 of them gold. Although the athletes from Lithuania originally won 81 awards, but in the final count only medals won individually or in pairs or teams with athletes from a single country were registered, leaving Lithuanian Makabi an appreciable haul. During awards ceremonies the Lithuanian national anthem played a whopping 25 times and the Lithuanian flag was raised the same number of times.

The European Maccabi Games are held once every four years, at two-year intervals with the World Maccabiah Games in Israel. The Maccabiah Games, also known as the Makabiada and “the Jewish Olympics,” recognize all 28 current Olympic sports and are under the aegis and direction of the International Olympic Committee.

Lithuanian flag-bearer and youth team coach Artiomas Perepelica at the opening ceremonies