On Thursday, the Fair Play Awards ceremony took place in Vilnius to honour the Lithuanian Fair Play award winners. Olympic champion and LNOC President Daina Gudzinevičiūtė and President of the Lithuanian Fair Play Committee and Olympian Austra Skujytė handed in the award to the winners of six nominations at the ceremony held at the National Olympic Committee of Lithuania (LNOC).

“I am delighted to see that for many years now we have been awarding people who inspire us not only by their achievements and results in sport but also by their honest and honourable conduct, or otherwise fair play, in sport. The Olympic values of respect, friendship and excellence are part and parcel of sport. Thank you for contributing to their promotion by your example,” Daina Gudzinevičiūtė said.

The LNOC awards, organised for the 29th time, honoured the heroes in the following nominations: Lifetime Achievement, Fair Play, Young Athlete as a Role Model for Peers, Fair Play Project, Fair Play Organisation, and this year’s novelty, Fair Play Promotion.

D. Gudzinevičiūtė (E. Žaldario nuotr.).

All nominees were considered and evaluated by the Lithuanian Fair Play Committee, which selected the winners in each nomination from among a pool of candidates.

“It is noteworthy that these awards are normally meant to recognise those people whose work is not really comfortable. It must be easier to work with people who are talented and aspiring, but the Fair Play community is special by not only being aspiring but also creating an opportunity to the disabled people to play sport and bringing everyone together. This humane attitude is very appreciated, because a few years ago the exclusion of disabled people from society was much higher,” said Ms. Skujytė.

President of the Lithuanian Fair Play Committee said she was delighted that these awards allow to honour those people who usually work quietly and patiently in good faith rather than boast and show off in public.

A. Skujytė (E. Žaldario nuotr.).

Aušra Kriškoviecienė was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award.

Aušra Kriškoviecienė has worked for 17 years as a physical education teacher at the Vilnius Atgaja Special School, educating children with special needs. Moreover, she is a long-time coordinator for Lithuania of the Special Olympics international project Young Athletes and a coach at the active employment centre EIK (Eng. “Go“). Since 2018, Aušra Kriškoviecienė has been President of the Lithuanian Frame Running Sport Association and a frame running coach. It is thanks to her merit that this innovative Parasport has seen its way to our country, and Lithuanian frame running athletes have become known all over the world.

“I was on holiday in the mountains, and I saw an email from the LNOC saying that I had been nominated for the Fair Play Awards. I was pleasantly surprised because I don’t feel I had done anything special last year. It turned out it was a Lifetime Achievement award. I guess everyone has their destiny. 20 years ago, it led me to work with children with special needs and their families. We try to include such people in society and therefore we regularly participate in various events. I am delighted to have been able, during the recent years, to prepare the next generation to replace us and continue the work with children with special needs,” said Aušra Kriškoviecienė.

Aušra Kriškoviecienė was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Virgilijus Prušinskas was selected as the winner of the Fair Play nomination.

The Lithuanian rower started his coaching career last year and immediately revealed his values. The young coach spares no time and energy in coaching a Paralympic rower, preparing him for his first competitions and together continuing to strive for achievements at international championships.

“It is a very unexpected recognition and I certainly do not feel I am doing anything particularly noble. As an aspiring coach, I’m happy to be already building up work experience. I am motivated by the dedication of the athlete I coach, as well as the balance between sport, family and work. It is my duty to simply help him pursue his dream. I left sport myself due to a trauma, but I hope it is only temporary,” said Virgilijus Prušinskas, smiling.

Virgilijus Prušinskas was announced the winner of the Fair Play nomination.

Break dancer and world champion Dominika Banevič was recognised as the winner in the nomination Young Athlete as a Role Mode For Peers.

Dominika Banevič has already proven that she is a courageous, self-confident athlete persistently and systematically pursuing her goals. In 2023, Dominika Banević was invited to many events for business, science and sport adult leaders and for young people and students, to share her formula for success and sources of motivation. The future Olympian was praised for her self-confidence, her courage to talk about her goals as well as her persistent daily work.

“I am honoured to receive such recognition, but I try not to dwell upon that for too long because this already refers to the past. My thoughts are already focused on a new goal, the Olympic Games,” said Dominika Banevič. “I am delighted to receive messages saying that I am an inspiration to other people. When I was a child, many Lithuanian athletes were my source of inspiration, therefore I am delighted to be such a source of inspiration myself now. I wish everyone to do what you love doing, with all your heart, and the achievements will then come naturally.”

Breakdancer and world champion Dominika Banevič was announced the winner in the nomination Young Athlete as a Role Model For Peers.

The award of the 2023 Fair Play Project went to the project Promotion of Cardio Tennis in the Community.

The objective of the project is to create favourable conditions for working people to play cardio tennis, to draft proposals for organisations and to educate the public about the health benefits of cardio tennis. The project involves 120 participants, 20 of whom are socially excluded. All project activities are free of charge.

“Having been an Olympian myself, I am no stranger to the values of fair play, but in one’s day-to-day work, you don’t really expect to get any recognition. Cardio tennis is not about competition, it’s about physical activity. Since money is very tight in sport, a lot of the activities are based on our enthusiasm. That must be the meaning lying behind Fair Play. People’s feedback is the biggest source of motivation. When I see people happy and interested, then I want to continue and expand the activities. Of course, all of this allows us to develop personally, too,” Tomas Bardauskas said, a former athlete who is a trainer of cardio tennis workouts.

The award of the 2023 Fair Play Project went to the Promotion of Cardio tennis in the Community.

The Active Employment Centre EIK (Eng. “Go“) became the winner of the Fair Play Organisation award.

This centre takes care of people with mobility disabilities. Five years ago, they started developing a new Paralympic sport of frame running in Lithuania. A team of five women has been involved in this activity for eight years now. EIK athletes participate in many competitions abroad and involve into their workouts not only adults but also children with mobility disabilities.

“I feel very grateful for the support and for being noticed. I am grateful to all our team, to our teammates with whom we have been working for eight years now. The more we go on, the more we see that there is a demand for our activities, not only for our own growth, but also for the whole of society, especially for people who are affected by disabilities. We see a great purpose in our activities,” Vida Adomaitienė said, the manager of the EIK Centre.

The Active Employment Centre EIK became the winner of the Fair Play Organisation award.

Saulius Kavaliauskas won the award of Fair Play Promotion. This is the first time such an award has been introduced.

For many years, Saulius Kavaliauskas has been teaching the theory of Olympic education and the origins and development of sport values during his lectures of Sport Sociology at the Lithuanian University of Sport. Moreover, he personally and with his students actively participates in Fair Play events, initiating innovative and original educational activities for students, schoolchildren and the elderly at the Third Age University. His lectures are dominated by the spirit of fair play, noble competition, good examples of life situations and personalities.

“36 years ago, one of the newspapers published my idea that Lithuania could participate in the Olympic Games. The momentum was so strong that the National Olympic Committee of Lithuania came into being the same year. I am delighted that the students promote Olympic values in their families as well, since one of the tasks is to discuss the significance of the Olympic movement in their lives. I am pleased that many families are already looking forward to the Olympic Games in Paris and will be able to discuss Lithuanian athletes’ performance. We have both world champions and Olympians among the students of the Lithuanian University of Sport, and the values they uphold are very close to those of fair play. This makes me very happy,” Saulius Kavaliauskas said.

Saulius Kavaliauskas won the award of Fair Play Promotion. This is the first time such an award has been introduced.

The movement of Fair Play has been developing in Lithuania since 1993. Over the past years, a lot has been done to spread the values of fair play across the nation and to promote humane sport serving the humanity.