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Antanas Lavickas from Kaunas, first coach of the Paralympic champion, was very happy when the student posted a link and was able to watch a live rowing broadcast of the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Sunday morning.
“In the mixed four-seater competition with the helmsman, 12 crews won the right to start in Tokyo. I was sure that in the final they would all be surpassed by the British, in 1917. and 2019. world champions of the disabled, which included Giedrė. His advantage was surprising. Silver was won by the Americans and bronze by the French, “said A. Lavickas happily.
The 30-year-old athlete’s coach found out about his ward on September 12. He is preparing to return to Lithuania, so he will rush to the airport to meet the champions.
Excellent physical data, tall (184 cm) Giedrė attended athletics training – A.Lavickas noticed her at the Athletics Manege in December 2005.
“I saw him maybe a couple of weeks ago. In the end I dared to speak and invited myself to try rowing. She agreed immediately. So my group had a great team: Ieva Alto and Aurimas Adomavičiai, Kristina Lašaitė and other trained young rowers.
That friendly team, as well as my training program, which almost every day had almost control bursts, during which it was possible to improve your personal results, was liked by Giedre and trained with great pleasure.
We all live very friendly, Giedrė joined the team and sought to become a highly skilled rower ”, says A. Lavickas.
The young athlete offered beautiful hopes. However, almost a year later, in October 2006, Giedrė and her father were driving to a communal garden and had an accident.
“Giedre had her ankle joint crushed, her toes were cut off and the student found herself in the Kaunas clinics. She had health problems at the time; after hip surgery, she was in the orthopedic ward of clinics and had to be released home two days later.
It was at that moment that Giedrė was taken to the clinic. When I found out what had happened to the student, I immediately found myself in her room on the third floor.
I saw my pupil, with tears in her eyes because I had never seen such a horrible image. And Giedrė is like no other place, he smiles, he calms me down ”, recalled the coach.
Giedrė was not lacking in optimism, she was sure she would row. Half a year later, with great enthusiasm, he rowed again.
He had a lot of strength, he could even beat boys. He participated in healthy Lithuanian championships and repeatedly became champion and award winner.
Double, quadruple and eight-seater rowing. In summer, training was mainly carried out at the Birštonas rowing base, where Kaunas residents spent a lot of time, and in winter – in the rowing pool of the Lithuanian Sports University, in the gymnasium of the Darius stadium. and Girėnas under the stands, Ąžuolynas.
“It occurred to me to see which category I would belong to if I tried my luck in competitions for the disabled. Giedrė couldn’t row alone, she needed to have a team. As part of the Erasmus + program, he left the second year of the Lithuanian Sports University ten years ago to study in Great Britain.
Choose a college that nurtured beautiful rowing traditions. Later, Giedrė was persuaded to continue his studies at the University of Worcester.
The student visited the club and received an offer to train rowers. Giedrė successfully completed her studies, probably covered the 1000m distance in the simulators at the English Winter Championships, improved the all-time English healthy rowing record and was invited to train seriously, ”says A. Lavickas.
Photo by Scanpix / Top Five British Rowers
To continue improving in the national team, it was necessary to accept British citizenship and Giedrė did so in 2017.
On two occasions (2017 and 2019) he was proclaimed world champion in disability, in 2019 his mixed four-seater car with helmsman was recognized as the best disabled team in the world and was awarded a special prize by the International Rowing Federation .
British mixed singles quadrupled in the heats and made it to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. This year, the team participated in many training camps, carefully preparing for its debut in Tokyo.
Giedrė was born on the same day, June 13, as their first coach A. Lavickas, so he does not forget to congratulate himself on his birthday.
The athlete lives in England and her parents live in Lithuania, in the Society Harmonization Park.
Coach A. Lavickas is convinced that if there was a strong rowing team for the disabled in Lithuania, the Paralympic Games champion would actively coach and row it.
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