Lithuania stands out as one of the very few countries in Europe that doesn't have football as it's main sport. They are incredible at Basketball for its size
Fun fact: At 1992 Olympics Barcelona, Three days before Lithuania won a bronze medal at basketball. A lithuanian athletics, Romas Ubartas. Won the first gold medal at the men discus throw and only the first medal to lithuania after they got independent from Soviet Union in 1990. Unbeliveble!
@@voxathleticaMaybe that should be a future video topic. Lithuania was actually the only Baltic country to win any medals at the 2024 Olympics (two silver and two bronze). Unfortunately, they’re currently on a gold medal drought for they haven’t won a gold medal since the 2012 Olympics in London. Maybe they can pick up their first gold in a long time in Los Angeles 2028. There are times I imagine Lithuania winning gold in basketball, And I think the American streak of winning the gold in basketball might end at some point. But at the same time, I don’t want our boys to lose the basketball gold on home soil in four years time. Please Olympic gods, let America win one more time and then let somebody else win for Brisbane.
Good vid, I didnt know this story. Interesting that Lithuania had its own team/country, but the Unified Team was still assembling parts from the rest of the old USSR.
Yes, that's an interesting item right, that 3 of the 15 Soviet nations competed on their own. But for the purposes of basketball, you can definitely see why Lithuania wanted to do it on their own
@@voxathletica I think it’s likely because they probably declared independent a lot earlier than the other countries in the Soviet Union and probably had more time to develop their own Olympic committees
Jamaica sending a bobsleigh team to the Winter Olympics got a movie, so this story deserves a movie as well. The Dream Team would probably be played by actors, but they would only have a minor role in the story
Although Lithuania competed independently in men's basketball at the 1992 Olympics, their women's team did not qualify, so Lithuanian basketball player Natalya Zasulsakaya chose to play for the Unified Team of the former Soviet Union that won gold in the women's tournament (she eventually earned Russian citizenship and played for the Russian team at the 2000 Olympics). Likewise, although Latvia also competed independentely at the 1992 Olympics, because it didn't qualify for the basketball tournament, two Latvian basketball players played for the Unified Team that lost to Lithuania.
Lithuania stands out as one of the very few countries in Europe that doesn't have football as it's main sport. They are incredible at Basketball for its size
Absolutely, it's an incredible legacy in basketball, I really just scratched the surface of it in this video
Fun fact: At 1992 Olympics Barcelona, Three days before Lithuania won a bronze medal at basketball. A lithuanian athletics, Romas Ubartas. Won the first gold medal at the men discus throw and only the first medal to lithuania after they got independent from Soviet Union in 1990. Unbeliveble!
Wow, I didn't know that story, incredible! I'm gonna look into it some more
@@voxathleticaMaybe that should be a future video topic. Lithuania was actually the only Baltic country to win any medals at the 2024 Olympics (two silver and two bronze). Unfortunately, they’re currently on a gold medal drought for they haven’t won a gold medal since the 2012 Olympics in London. Maybe they can pick up their first gold in a long time in Los Angeles 2028. There are times I imagine Lithuania winning gold in basketball, And I think the American streak of winning the gold in basketball might end at some point. But at the same time, I don’t want our boys to lose the basketball gold on home soil in four years time. Please Olympic gods, let America win one more time and then let somebody else win for Brisbane.
Great video AGAIN. More please
Thank you! More coming, next one drops on Friday!
i would love one of those shirts
Check out the original artist's website mentioned in the video, they're for sale!
One of the best shirts ever made! I have a reprint and people try to buy it off me all the time.
Amazing! Such an awesome shirt, and once you know the backstory it gets even better
Good vid, I didnt know this story. Interesting that Lithuania had its own team/country, but the Unified Team was still assembling parts from the rest of the old USSR.
Yes, that's an interesting item right, that 3 of the 15 Soviet nations competed on their own. But for the purposes of basketball, you can definitely see why Lithuania wanted to do it on their own
@@voxathletica I think it’s likely because they probably declared independent a lot earlier than the other countries in the Soviet Union and probably had more time to develop their own Olympic committees
Jamaica sending a bobsleigh team to the Winter Olympics got a movie, so this story deserves a movie as well. The Dream Team would probably be played by actors, but they would only have a minor role in the story
Absolutely, I'm actually surprised this story hasn't gotten the Hollywood treatment yet!
Lithuania 👍
Although Lithuania competed independently in men's basketball at the 1992 Olympics, their women's team did not qualify, so Lithuanian basketball player Natalya Zasulsakaya chose to play for the Unified Team of the former Soviet Union that won gold in the women's tournament (she eventually earned Russian citizenship and played for the Russian team at the 2000 Olympics). Likewise, although Latvia also competed independentely at the 1992 Olympics, because it didn't qualify for the basketball tournament, two Latvian basketball players played for the Unified Team that lost to Lithuania.
That's an interesting little wrinkle of history from these games, thanks for dropping it in here!
She was Russian born in Lithuania in the russian family.
@@Kicionas That's right about Zasulskaya, but the Latvian players that played in the Unified Team were really Latvian.