- Lina Kačiušytė
Lina Kačiušytė (born
January 1 ,1963 inVilnius ) is a former Lithuanian swimmer who competed for theSoviet Union , winner of a gold medal in 200 m breaststroke with the Olympic record time of 2:29:54 at the1980 Summer Olympics .Biography
She trained at the VSS "Žalgiris" in Vilnius. [ru icon [http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/olympic/article/olymp/ol12/ol1-3344.htm Profile in the Olympic Encyclopedia] ] Her first coach from 1974 to 1977, Arvydas Gražiūnas, saw her great potential and guided her in the right direction. By 1976 she was invited to train with the USSR's youth swimming team and, within a year promoted to the USSR National Team. Following another year of hard training, she was ready for the 1978 World Championships of
Berlin .She surprised everyone by winning the 200 m breaststroke and setting two world records: one in the prelims, defeating world record holder and teammate
Julia Bogdanova , the second when winning the gold medal in the finals. She set the world record a third time the following year at the USSR vs. DDR Dual Meet inPotsdam , a record that stood from 1979 through 1985 when it was finally broken by East Germany'sSilke Horner . Lina was the first female breaststroke swimmer to go under the 2 minute 30 second barrier for the 200 meter event.In 1998 she was inducted into the
International Swimming Hall of Fame .References
External links
* [http://www.ishof.org/honorees/98/98lkaciusyte.html Biography]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
