Rimas Kurtinaitis ( lit. Rimas Kurtinaitis ; Rimas Gintautovich Kurtinaitis ; May 15, 1960 , Kaunas , Lithuanian SSR , USSR ) - Soviet and Lithuanian basketball player and coach, Olympic champion and European champion. Attacking defender. Height - 196 cm. Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1984).
| Rimas Kurtinaitis | |
|---|---|
| Rimas kurtinaitis | |
 | |
| completed his career | |
| Position | Point guard |
| Growth | 196 cm |
| Weight | 94 kg |
| Citizenship |  USSR →  Lithuania |
| Date of Birth | May 15, 1960 (59 years old) |
| Place of Birth | Kaunas , Lithuanian SSR , USSR |
At the end of his sports career, he was Director General of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports under the Government of Lithuania from June 2, 1997 to August 20, 2001.
Content
Career
Father - Gintautas, locksmith at the factory. Mother - Aldona, a printing worker.
When Rimas was 7 years old, his older brother Robertas brought him to the district basketball section.
He started playing in 1978 in Panevezys , for the club of the 1st league “Lietkabelis”, since he could not find a place in the Kaunas “Zalgiris” . He also became a member of the USSR junior team, which in 1979 in Brazil took part in the first world championship among young basketball players.
In the early 80s, he studied at the Vilnius Institute of Physical Education, from which he was soon expelled for poor performance.
Kurtinaitis was taken into the army, allowing to play in Riga SKA (the team played in the 1st league), where he was highly effective.
After some time, Alexander Gomelsky noticed him and took him to CSKA , where Kurtinaitis played in 1981-1982, became the champion of the USSR. At the same time he played for the USSR youth basketball team.
After serving in the army, he returned to Lithuania and began playing for Zalgiris in Kaunas . At first, the team coach Vladas Garastas released Kurtinaitis only 3-5 minutes, but the teammates assured that everything would be in order.
The game stood out for its high performance when throwing from a long distance, an aggressive and uncompromising attitude for each match.
In 1989, he became the first European to take part in a three-point shot competition in the NBA away weekend in Houston. But the competition was unsuccessful - he scored only 9 goals [1] .
Also in 1989, he began a foreign career, having left to play for the Hagen German Bundesliga club. He spent 3 seasons in Germany (1989-1992), after which, in transit through Zalgiris (1992), he ended up in Spain at the Argal Huesca club (1992-1993). In Spain, he played together with ex-partner of the USSR national team Valery Tikhonenko .
In 1993, Kurtinaitis played for the Townsville Sans club from Australia, in which he confirmed his reputation as an extra-class sniper. In the fall of 1993, again in Spain - he was invited by BC Real Madrid (Madrid) . Kurtinaitis spent two incomplete seasons at the Royal Club (1993-1995), where, together with his old friend Arvydas Sabonis, he won the national title.
After Real Madrid, there was a successful return to альalgiris (Kurtinaitis became the champion of Lithuania and was awarded the title of the most valuable player in the Lithuanian League as part of his native team in the 1995/96 season) and to France. He played part of the 1996/97 season at the Chalon club, a debutant of the top division (he played 13 matches, gaining an average of 18.0 points per game and making 1.8 assists), the second part - at the Angers club from the 2nd leagues [2] [3] .
At the same time, all these years (1992-1996) Kurtinaitis successfully played for the Lithuanian national team. In company with other Lithuanian basketball legends - A. Sabonis, S. Marchiulionis, V. Homicius, Karnisovas, he won bronze medals of two Olympics (Barcelona-92 and Atlanta-96) and the “silver” European Championship (1995) in Athens. Rimas completed his career in the national team in 1997 after qualifying matches for the European Championship.
Speaking in France, he received an offer from Lithuanian Prime Minister Vagnorius to head the Department of Physical Culture and Sports in the Government of Lithuania. He spent 4 years in the government seat (1997-2001). When the government of A. Brazauskas came to power, Kurtinaitis had a heart-to-heart talk with the new prime minister. Brazauskas admitted that the party most likely would not want the non-partisan chair. As a result, Kurtinaitis filed for resignation.
At the same time, Kurtinaitis still managed to play in the Lithuanian Premier League clubs - in Athletas from Kaunas (1997-1998) and Lietuvos Rytas (1998-1999) [4] .
In 2001, in the status of vice president, he resumed his sports career in BC Kiev (2001-2002), where he acted as a playing coach in domestic championship games and European competitions [5] . The honorary president of this club was his longtime acquaintance and partner in the USSR national team Alexander Volkov, and Igor Miglinieks, another member of the "golden" Seoul team, worked as the head coach.
He began his coaching career in the summer of 2002 in BC Gala (Baku), while also leading the national team of Azerbaijan (2002-2006). Together with the national team, he won the Islamic Games, in which 19 basketball teams participated, and the Challenge Cup (World Cup among small countries).
In addition, in 2005 Kurtinaitis led the Lithuanian youth team as head coach, who won silver medals at the European Championships in Chekhov, near Moscow; was the assistant head coach of the Lithuanian adult male basketball team in 2007.
In the 2006/07 season, he coached BC Ural Great [6] . However, in the 2006/07 Super League, Ural Great took only 11th place and remained below the playoffs. Along with this, the team found itself in a financial crisis, as it lost the general sponsor. In mid-December 2006 he was dismissed. In January 2007, he headed the Sakalas BC [7] .
In December 2007 he became the head of Shlensk (Poland) .
In 2008 (from December) [8] - 2010 - head coach Lietuvos Rytas . From the 2nd half of 2010 - ch. WEF coach (Riga). From March 2011 to March 2016 - head coach of BC Khimki .
In the summer of 2011, at the World Veterans Championship in Brazil (06.24-03.07) he was awarded the Eduardo Awards as the best European basketball player. [9]
Achievements
- Olympic champion 1988
- European Champion 1985. Silver medalist of the European Championship 1995. Bronze medalist of the European Championship 1989
- 1986 World Cup silver medalist
- 1986 Intercontinental Cup Winner
- Four-time champion of the USSR 1982 (CSKA), 1985-1987 ("Zalgiris" Kaunas); silver medalist 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989 (альalgiris Kaunas)
- Champion of Spain 1995
- VTB United League Champion : 2011 .
- Winner of the European Cup : 2009 , 2012 , 2015 .
Rewards
- Medal For Labor Valor (1985)
- Cavalier of the Officer Cross of the Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas (1995)
- Commander of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas (1996)
- Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation ( December 21, 2006 ) - for merits in strengthening friendly relations and the development of cooperation between states in the field of sports [10]
- Commander of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit for Lithuania (2007)
Family
Wife - Ruta. Son - Gedrius, basketball player. Daughter - Laura, a lawyer.
Notes
- ↑ Rimas Kurtinaitis: “As soon as he arrived in the USA, they constantly said on television that a Russian had arrived, he will show you now”
- ↑ NOW I AM THE GAME MINISTER
- ↑ KURTINAITIS RETURNED TO FRANCE
- ↑ KURTINAITIS DOES NOT LEAVE THE BASKETBALL, BUT AND WILL NOT PLAY IN THIS SEASON
- ↑ Kurtinaitis and Volkov again went to the site
- ↑ New head coach of Ural Great BC
- ↑ New head coach of BC “Sakalas”
- ↑ New head coach of Lietuvos Rytas
- ↑ Eduardo Awards 2011, Natal, Brazil
- ↑ Order of the President of the Russian Federation of December 21, 2006 No. 642-rp “On Promotion”