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Alekna still has the buzz

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In the summer of 1994, at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki, a Lithuanian discus thrower finished eighth in qualifying Group A. His distance was 56.38m, he failed to make the final and few in the Olympic Stadium that day would have left remembering who he was.

Virgilijus Alekna is now in his 44th year - and the bug for competing has never stopped. This week in Vilnius, Alekna began another season in his extraordinary career.

Where will it take him? Who knows?

Twenty years on from Helsinki, Alekna was back at the European Athletics Championships last summer in Zurich where he finished 21st overall with 59.35m. His best in 2014 was 65.76m and now he has started 2015 in fine style with a throw of 60.13m.

His record of consistency remains remarkable, considering it was in 1992 that he first produced an effort beyond the 60m barrier.

His career took him to the greatest heights, as he won Olympic gold in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, world titles in Paris 2003 and Helsinki 2005 and became European champion in Gothenburg 2006.

Among his other podium finishes, he won bronze at the European Athletics Championships in Budapest 1998 and silver in Munich 2002.

But with such a solid start to this season, he is proving once more that age is no barrier to the desire to be in the heat of the action.




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