Gudzinevičiūtė promising not to sleep in the wagon: the time limit has pros and cons

In 2012, after a tense election, the 54-year-old shooter, who defeated his opponent Virgilijus Aleknas, this time avoided such competition.

It was supported by 49 LTOK members at the LTOK General Assembly session. Emilis Vaitkaitis, the current president of the Lithuanian Swimming Federation, who donned the gauntlet of the election, won the sympathy of 17 Assembly participants in a secret ballot.

This means that D. Gudzinevičiūtė will hold one of the most important positions in the country’s sport for at least twelve years.

In this sense, the Sydney Olympic champion could theoretically catch up with the first LTOK president, Artūrs Poviliūnas, who served twice as long.

After all, the number of presidential terms in LTOK is not limited, although the Sports Law imposes such a requirement on the country’s sports federations.

The only limit set in the LTOK bylaws is that all LTOK members, including representatives of the governing bodies, must resign at the age of 70.

Following the elections at the Litexpo Palace in the capital, Mr. Gudzinevičiūtė expressed his views on this issue to the media, as well as commenting on the speeches and actions of critics.

– What are the most important tasks you plan to undertake during your third term?

– The Olympic Games are approaching and, at the moment, we are definitely not in the best situation. We have an action plan. My old dream of having a hundred athletes in the Olympics, I really want it to come true.

But now we only have 23 athletes who have met Olympic standards, at the same time before the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, we had 48. It is naive to expect to reach the same number as last time. But we will do our best to improve the situation.

She is very clear about it, the reasons are known. It is about the abolition of the medical service function in the Lithuanian Sports Center. Some large federations are being resolved in some way and the smaller ones are not, athletes are medically underserved. I think that’s one of the key factors.

– Do you have something to borrow from the electoral program of E. Vaitkaitis?

– He really didn’t say anything new. I do not want to criticize now, but we are doing the same: openness, transparency, progress is assured. We just don’t share unreasonable promises. I am a completely independent candidate, I constantly follow that path, only with a great team.

– The opponent received more votes than he predicted.

– The opponent received about two more votes than I predicted.

– How will your third term differ from the previous ones?

– In the first trimester, we recreate everything. What is now associated with the principles of good governance has not existed in principle. We organize it completely differently, we implement a criteria system, a collegiate decision system, full publicity, transparency. The train has already arrived.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you should sleep peacefully in a wagon. We will do the same job. The benefits of the third term are connections with other organizations, not to mention international connections that are different like heaven and earth than they were eight years ago when I joined the international Olympic family.

– He is criticized for the unlimited number of LTOK presidential terms. Are you going to change something?

– Definitively the statutes will be changed. I don’t really see any problem in adding a term limit to them, we can do that. It has pros and cons. For example, there is certainly no queue in the federations that want to lead them. If a person who is willing and able to do so is automatically drawn after two terms, it is completely illogical. Especially if it is the position to be chosen. Let’s take a look at the Seimas: there is no restriction of terms.

But we will definitely talk about it by changing the statutes. We will discuss whether there will be an opinion on the introduction of a term limit, I am only in favor. Another point that we believe will necessarily need to be included is the requirement of good reputation for candidates for governing bodies.

– You are probably referring to Arūnas Pukelis. How do you rate your speeches before the vote?

– I sincerely hope that our General Assembly is prudent. I do not believe that the presence of Mr. Pukel as a member of the Assembly, much less the executive committee, increases our prestige, for which we have fought so hard.

– In your opinion, of the LTOK members, only A. Pukelis can not meet the impeccable reputation requirement, is there more?

– I myself, as a lawyer, know that reputation is a vague matter, it can damage it. pletkai, More or less. Certainly I do not know if anyone else can not meet this requirement, but the General Assembly is a living body, new people are elected in their federations and organizations. So you better be sure.

– You appointed Naglis Nasvytis as Vice President, who was also nominated by E. Vaitkaitis. How would you explain this situation?

– We don’t really divide people into locals and strangers, it’s a broken accusation. Eight years ago, when the elections were much fiercer, I had high hopes of uniting the sports community. Partially successful. Whoever saw our assembly saw that the five were always against everything, no matter what was offered. Today is a slightly different result. I have no illusions that one day the whole world will be united, unfortunately we are thus created.