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Giedrius Surplys, Advisor to the Prime Minister, Head of the Public Information Group COVID-19, Kornelija Tiesnesytė, Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Daina Gudzinevičiūtė, President of the National Olympic Committee of Lithuania and Nijolė Medvedeva, Secretary General of the Lithuanian Federation of Athletics and Head of Kaunas “Žal”.
– Mr. Surply, let’s talk about the latest decisions that affect society as a whole. The quarantine has been extended into the summer, mitigations are planned for the next two weeks, and free travel in the Baltic States will be allowed starting May 18. kindergartens are opened, the work of beauty salons is renewed, dental services are allowed, outdoor events are allowed, it is true, up to thirty people and at a safe distance. The Minister for Education, Science and Sports said today that the children will return to kindergarten immediately. Can you explain what this will look like?
G. Exploits: We still live in quarantine and we do it wisely, rationally, we have to protect ourselves and others. Even if we liberalize a lot of things, open more businesses, open kindergartens so that our people can work and take care of their children, any institution that opens will have to provide the necessary security measures. Perhaps that was what the minister was referring to. Institutions of May 18. they will already be able to operate, but they must be adjusted to meet the requirements for disinfection, ventilation and protection of workers, as well as other requirements. Probably because of this, it is anticipated that such postponement of work in kindergartens may occur.
– Mr. Surply, no decision has yet been made on the resumption of the restaurants and cafes inside. When do you expect that?
G. Exploits: I think about the near future. The need is that we can already sit in outdoor cafes, we have been able to carry food with us all the time, now we are talking about being able to resume activities indoors. However, there are practical questions. For example, how do we ensure a safe distance because we eat without our masks and there is a greater chance that the virus will spread indoors. It may be worth considering installing partitions between tables or the like.
At the moment, no smart solutions have been found on how to resume operations, but at the same time protect visitors and staff, which so far is a delay. But these solutions will be found in collaboration with the business community, and I believe we will be able to visit catering establishments in the near future.
– Vice Minister, could you add kindergartens? What did the Minister have in mind when he said that, despite the opening, they would not be fully operational immediately?
K. Tiesnesytė: Today, some kindergartens are in operation, supervised by grandparents who have to work and cannot work remotely. In fact, even the first mitigation phase was not as abundant as might have been expected because the number of kindergartens in kindergartens is not large. In fact, there is also the question of the health of the workers themselves, how many of them are at risk. Institutions take time to meet all requirements.
– Let’s move on to sports. From May 18. There will be some exemptions for sports clubs, individual training in sports clubs in groups of up to 6 people will be allowed. Mr. Surply, what are the essential requirements for exercising at a sports club?
G. Exploits: It is urgent to clarify that the groups are not up to 6 people, but up to 10. In principle, sports activities are renewed enough. We have already had the opportunity to exercise outdoors, and now we are setting foot in the gym, where it will not only be possible to exercise individually, providing 10 square meters per gym visitor, but also talking about group workouts led by experienced coaches , professional and qualified. These trainings would be carried out in groups of up to 10 people.
As for professional athletes, they have had the opportunity to train both outdoors and indoors in the past. Sure, restrictions are probably annoying, but they are introduced to protect health. We must guarantee that ten-meter distance and meet other requirements. But the fact that more and more people can play sports in Lithuania, not just professional athletes.
– Mr Gudzinevičiūtė, how do you see the world of sports adapting to the new reality?
D. Gudzinevičiūtė: It is really very complicated. He has been haunted for some time by the uncertainty of whether or not this year’s Olympics will take place. When it was decided that they would not take place this year, but would move to next year, I think it was easier for our best athletes to breathe a sigh of relief, because if the Games were to take place in July of this year, it would be really very difficult to prepare for them. It is true, it is difficult for everyone, not only for ours. But where there are large specialized bases, perhaps athletes have been allowed to train.
Our people are now a bit insecure again as they are awaiting the decision of the international federations on when some competitions will be postponed, when they will take place and for whom to prepare. But we are happy that until now we are almost all healthy and waiting for what will happen next. As not only the Olympic Games, but also major tournaments are postponed, the youth festival organized by the European Olympic Committee, to be held next year, was postponed to the following year. The same fate happened to many other events. Quarantine is quarantine, everyone understands it and, to the best of their ability, everyone has exercised as best they can.
– Ms. Medvedeva, how would you describe the conditions for professional athletes to train now?
N. Medvedeva: Before relaxation from quarantine, athletes had virtually no such opportunities. But everyone tried not to abandon the sport. Some have trained at home as much as possible, others have private gardens, perhaps a little easier for them. But again, it was just supporting a sporty form so as not to lose any physical condition. But, of course, it was very difficult because nobody could enter the stadiums, maybe the others could go to the parks, but certainly not everyone had those opportunities. So it is really a very difficult period.
We are now very pleased that conditions are gradually softening and that our top athletes are already being admitted to stadiums under strict conditions. But today there are few due to the very limited number.
– Mrs. Medvedeva, you can see the routine: imagine, a professional athlete, an athlete, comes to the attic, to the stadium. What does your training look like? Do you train only across the arena, or just a few? How does it seem like everything is disinfected after that?
N. Medvedeva: They have not yet been admitted to the maneuver. There is not even a maneuver in Vilnius. Currently, most training is in stadiums. Without a doubt, it is a bit strange when one or two athletes with a coach play in such a large stadium. At the beginning, only the candidates for the Olympic team could enter the stadiums, and now a little more is allowed.
Imagine the stadium area: it is very large. And an athlete is training here. And he himself is not very welcoming, and it seems strange, but the conditions are very strict, there were many fears, perhaps he did not even want to take risks or responsibilities, and those tensions were very, very severe. Sometimes it looks weird when you can play tennis without being allowed in stadiums.
– The Prime Minister said today that there are opportunities to renew the Lithuanian soccer championship. Madam Vice Minister, can you tell us more than just about football? Perhaps it also applies to other sports, when could that happen?
K. Tiesnesytė: First of all, I would like to clarify the statement by the honorable Secretary General: tennis training and outdoor sports have started to run at the same time, as the honorable Surplys mentioned, this has been done before, athletes have been training for a couple of weeks. In fact, the focus is mainly on health, on protecting each other. When the epidemiological situation is such that it is possible to go out more boldly and start practicing indoor sports, those are government decisions.
As for the future, as we know, from the 18th. Events with around 30 people will already be allowed. Today I had to communicate with the President of the Lithuanian Football Federation, we spoke. They had many discussions with their clubs, and we agreed with him that in the near future, this week, we would return to the detailed question of how we could regulate those requirements; Perhaps the next government meeting next week could include some mitigation provisions for sporting events.
Of course, perhaps there are bigger and faster opportunities out there. As mentioned, restaurants resumed catering in open spaces. So there are probably more and faster options to start playing with viewers.
And when it comes to domestic events, they go a little further. And event organizers, I think, are still interested in organizing events with spectators. Because, as you mentioned at the beginning, there are losses, gains not derived from the tickets. Since the events and competitions are organized by the clubs and the leagues themselves, I have no doubt that they are interested in these being events with spectators. We have a few days to discuss all the details, to collect the points and to be able to make decisions next week. I guess the real time would already be in June.
– June: Can we expect to return to the halls for the competition, with no spectators yet?
K. Tiesnesytė: Athletes, national teams, Euroleague clubs and soccer teams are already training today, which means that there are as many athletes in the room as there would be without spectators, so if the number of illnesses does not increase in the future Nearby, there will be no fireplace in any gym. about the fact that the next stage of mitigation would also touch sporting events.
– In terms of finances, Ms. Gudzinevičiūtė, the budget of the National Olympic Committee, as announced, is 95 percent. The quarantine is reported to have affected lottery ticket sales, reducing expected budget revenue to 37%, which would be nearly 4 million euros. What is the worst case scenario you are preparing for and what are your priorities?
D. Gudzinevičiūtė: You mentioned the worst case scenario. We hope that this does not happen, that we lose around 20%. Then of course it will hurt. But then again, we don’t go to the games, we saved a little bit of the reservation, which was reserved for the trip to the games. We hope that after the resumption of the purchase of tickets, the return of the buyers to the stores, the beginning of the purchase of tickets, we will return to normal again.
The priority, of course, is one: first, people don’t suffer: athletes and those who work with them: doctors, coaches, everyone who works directly and for whom that income is particularly important. Despite the fact that there was no training, we do not plan to terminate the scholarships for athletes, this would already be an extreme case. We will save everywhere, we have looked everywhere, we have reduced wages, we have revised costs, somehow we will get away with it. It probably won’t be easy for everyone, nor will it be easy for us, but somehow we will live.
– You have already mentioned that the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed, the European Athletics Championships, due to be held in late summer, have been canceled, many sporting events. Mrs. Medvedeva, how would you describe the mood of the athletes at the moment?
N. Medvedeva: All athletes long to go back out to the arenas to participate in the competition, they are all extremely tired of the quarantine and home training conditions; everyone hopes to breathe fresh air. From what I have had to interact with athletes, I am very disappointed that almost all international athletics competitions have been canceled, with the exception of the World Half Marathon Championship, which moved to October. But everyone expects that at least some kind of competition will take place on a Baltic scale and, of course, a national competition. We really expect from them, if there are no major pandemic outbreaks, we will really try to do as many events as possible during July, August and September. Athletes are waiting for that incessantly.
– The flagship of Lithuanian professional sports is, of course, Kaunas “Žalgiris”. Mr. Motiejūnai, how does Kaunas “Žalgiris” live during this period, how are the trainings carried out?
P. Motiejūnas: It probably goes without saying that they don’t happen. We have probably become an amateur sport now because team sports for players to train one by one is a very amateur job. This is happening with us so far: the players have plans and are preparing individually, hoping that we can return to the halls and train as a team.
– And what is the financial situation? I understand that there will be many financial problems for Kaunas “Žalgiris” and other clubs.
P. Motiejūnas: You talked about the worst case scenario a little earlier on the show. In the worst case, we will lose about a quarter of the budget. If we plan for about 12 million, the “minus” could be about 3 million.
– What does this mean for your club?
P. Motiejūnas: Bad. In this case, it is bad, but the conditions are the same for everyone. All Euroleague clubs are in the same situation. Only a few have major sponsors to pull them out, while others will try to close those holes and move forward in a year. We try not to panic too much, this will have to be resolved in the future.
– “Euroleague executives are still looking for solutions to where and how they could end the season. “Žalgiris” offers to organize this tournament in Kaunas and Vilnius without spectators. How would it go? How do you rate your opportunities?
P. Motiejūnas: We are optimistic, we believe that we have many advantages over others. These include lower hotel prices, very strong government support, and relatively easy transportation. So we have many triumphs. And due to the preparation: all the teams would go to Lithuania, we would finish the regular season, we would play 6 games and then other stages would take place. So far, the plan is as follows.
– In other words, all the teams would fly to Kaunas and Vilnius, they would finish the Euroleague season here, they would play all the missing games, then the playoffs, which include 8 teams, and the last four.
P. Motiejūnas: It is not clear about the final stage, if there would be four or eight final teams, instead of “play-offs” there would be immediate replays, just one match, but all the teams would live in Lithuania for quite some time anyway.
– In your opinion, does Lithuania have the best opportunities at the moment?
P. Motiejūnas: I look optimistic all the time, I think so. Because we meet all the criteria that must be met: the support of hallways, hotels, and the government, which is important to help control the spread of the disease and protect everyone. Therefore, there will definitely be a number of benefits.
– Madam Vice Minister, do you think there will be massive sporting events in the summer? There are many of them in Lithuania.
K. Tiesnesytė: We certainly cannot answer this question 100%, as relaxation of quarantine conditions takes place in stages, and information from epidemiologists and our own ability to follow the rules and not break them is very important. In some cases, there are very resourceful organizations that can. There are championships that were held remotely this weekend and of course it may not be much fun for viewers, but I think you can find some of the more massive, like stage racing.
When it comes to sports competitions and events, we will already have relief, i. events for thirty people. I think with some control, an increase in events is really possible. But everything depends not on a decision, but on the conditions of the environment.
– For national championships, federations have to do them, right? Ms Medvedeva, can you imagine how an athletics championship for various age groups and many sports competitions could take place in Lithuania, when up to 30 people including athletes, judges etc. can participate in the events?
N. Medvedeva: If that were the case, it would be extremely difficult. But we are very hopeful that these conditions will improve in Lithuania. Competition in June. We don’t really plan yet, but from July to August. We believe this will be possible. We consider all kinds of options, possibly extending the competition a few days and organizing some matches at the same time. I think we will find a solution. Championships for different age groups are held separately with us, so we will have plenty of time to complete them. But we are really ready and very hopeful that we can do it.
– Mrs Gudzinevičiūtė, what information do you have from many other Olympic sports federations on how they will organize the national championships?
D. Gudzinevičiūtė: Until now, really very difficult. As Nijole said, each federation will have to decide for itself whether and how it will be able to do it. Our criteria for allocating funds to athletes are those of power that have already met the standards, and if there is no competition somewhere this year we will certainly not consider it.
And those who can use ingenuity, of course, the rules of international federations do not foresee, for example, remote participation. But, ending with a more fun topic, for example, we were planning an Olympic day in early June in Vilnius, we thought we would collect around 30 thousand. people: now it is clear that it will not happen, we leave the possibility that it may happen in the fall. But on June 23, the true Olympic day, we invite you to participate remotely and interact with the Olympic mile interactively; See our website for information.
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