Modestas Paulauskas
Modestas Juozapas Paulauskas , in the Soviet Union also Modestas Yozapas Feliksovich Paulauskas or Модестас Йозапас Феликсович Паулаускас (born March 19, 1945 in Kretinga , Lithuanian SSR ) is a former Soviet basketball player.
successes
The 1.93 m tall player from Žalgiris Kaunas won the European championship title with the national basketball team of the USSR in 1965 , Paulauskas was named the most valuable player in this European championship. In 1967 , 1969 and 1971 Paulauskas also won the European title, in 1973 the Soviet team was defeated by the host Spaniards and received the bronze medal after defeating the Czechoslovaks.
In 1967 and 1974 the Soviet team won the world title, in 1970 the team finished third after beating the world champions from the host country Yugoslavia, but losing to the vice world champions from Brazil and the fifth placed from the USA. At the 1968 Olympic Games, the Soviet team lost to the Yugoslavs in the semifinals and received the bronze medal. Four years later, the Soviet team defeated the US team at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich 51:50, celebrating the first Olympic victory that did not go to the US basketball team. In a total of eighteen games at the Olympic Games, Paulauskas scored 244 points, with 30 points he was most successful in the preliminary round match against Brazil in 1968, his weakest result was three points in the 1972 Olympic final.
Paulauskas was the best basketball player in Lithuania at the time; he was voted Lithuania's Sportsman of the Year seven times : from 1965 to 1967 and from 1969 to 1972.
In 1997 he was the coach of BC Lietuvos rytas .
Since 2005, Paulaskas has been training student teams twice a week in the Russian city of Krasnosnamensk ( Kaliningrad Oblast ). Paulaskas says that the nostalgic memory of his youth in the Soviet Union drives him to Krasnosnamensk. He likes hearing the Russian language and helping the boys. For his job he has to commute over 80 km two times a week and cross the Lithuanian-Russian border. In 2009 he was awarded the Medal of Honor "For Services to Kaliningrad Oblast" for his commitment.
Web links
- Modestas Paulauskas in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
- Basketball world championships
- European basketball championships
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Paulauskas, Modestas |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Paulauskas, Modestas Juozapas; Paulauskas, Modestas Yozapas Feliksovich; Паулаускас, Модестас Йозапас Феликсович |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | soviet basketball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 19, 1945 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kretinga , Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union |