2012-10-10 17:28

Athlete Živilė Balčiūnaitė removed from state awardee list

Lithuanian long-distance runner Živilė Balčiūnaitė, 33, who was disqualified for doping following the 2010 European Athletics Championship, and her coach have renounced state decorations and have been removed from the awardee list, according to a decree by President Dalia Grybauskaitė.
Živilė Balčiūnaitė
Živilė Balčiūnaitė / „Reuters“/„Scanpix“ nuotr.

The athlete was removed from the list of people awarded with Crosses of the Knight of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.

Balčiūnaitė was decorated two years ago after becoming European women's marathon champion. Her coach Romas Sausaitis received a Medal of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. They both returned the state decorations in late September after the State Decorations Council ordered Chancellor Giedrius Krasauskas to ask the athlete to return the awards.

Balčiūnaitė's disqualification ended on 6 September.

Balčiūnaitė maintains she is innocent and has said that the positive drug test was a result of medication prescribed by her gynaecologist.

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