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Sport in Lithuania is governed by the Physical Education and Sports Department following the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. The Lithuanian government established the department to manage physical education in the schools and sports administration in the country. Over the next few years, Lithuanian sports organizations established (or re-established) membership in international governing bodies (including the International Olympic Committee). Lithuania participated in the Winter Olympics in Albertville and has participated in every Winter and Summer Olympics since. There are nearly 80 Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations in Lithuania, and the Lithuanian Union of Sports Federations was founded in 1993 to unite them. An organization, "Sports for All", was established to promote physical education and a healthy lifestyle for all Lithuanians. Among the most popular sports in Lithuania are basketball, football, athletics and cycling. Professional athletes and trainers are educated at the Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education. ==Major sports== Basketball is popular and successful team sport in Lithuania. Luke Winn, a writer for the American magazine ''Sports Illustrated'', said in an August 2011 story that Basketball is the only sport the 3.2 million Lithuanians truly care about—it is their second religion, after Catholicism—and their success is proportionately stunning." The Lithuanian national basketball team won the European basketball Championship in 1937, 1939 (when it was the host country) and 2003. They won silver medals in 1995 and 2013, bronze in 2007, and again hosted EuroBasket 2011. They were the bronze-medal winners in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. In Olympic competition, Lithuania was the bronze medalist at the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Summer Olympics. The team finished fourth in 2004 and 2008. Lithuania's under-19 junior basketball team won the European Championship in 2003 and took second place at the World Championship that year. Its under-21 junior team won the 2005 World Championship in Argentina. The Žalgiris Kaunas team won the Intercontinental Cup in 1986, EuroCup in 1998 and the Euroleague in 1999. Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius won the ULEB Cup (now known as the Eurocup) in 2005 and 2009, and was runner-up in 2007. In the Euroleague, Šarūnas Jasikevičius was a four-time Euroleague winner and Arvydas Macijauskas, Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Arvydas Sabonis were Euroleague MVPs. Several Lithuanian basketball players have played successfully in the NBA: * Arvydas Sabonis (Portland Trail Blazers, 1995–2001, 2002–03) * Šarūnas Marčiulionis (Golden State Warriors and other teams, 1989–1997) * Žydrūnas Ilgauskas (Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat) * Darius Songaila (Philadelphia 76ers) * Linas Kleiza (Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors) * Jonas Valančiūnas (Toronto Raptors) * Donatas Motiejūnas (Houston Rockets) Lithuania ranks fourth in the FIBA World Rankings. Putting this in perspective, Luke Winn wrote that Lithuania was at the time "...behind countries of 313 million (the U.S.), 47 million (Spain), 40 million (Argentina) and 11 million (Greece), and just ahead of countries of 79 million (Turkey) and 61 million (Italy).〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sport in Lithuania」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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