On Saturday night, the International Children’s Games (ICG ‘2017) ended with a solemn, noisy and fun closing ceremony in the Kaunas Sports Hall. For the teams of Kaunas and other Lithuanian cities the games were successful – the Lithuanians won the most medals in the overall ranking, but in the general table of awards Taipei’s athletes got ahead of them.
The Last Medals Were Handed Out
On Saturday, football players, swimmers, athletes and sailors were given the last awards.
Kaunas football players won bronze medals on Saturday. Three other medals were won by sailors.
In Optimist class Rimvydas Mažunavičius from Šiauliai won gold, and Auksė Valeikaitė from Kaunas – bronze.
Justinas Jocas from Kaunas was third in Laser 4,7.
Most of the medals for Lithuania were won by Judo representatives – 5 gold, 4 silver and 11 bronze.
Swimmers significantly contributed to the Lithuanian team’s medal collection. In Girstutis swimming pool, Lithuanian representatives won 7 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze medals.
The basketball players also earned medals – Kaunas’ boys team won gold, and girls – bronze medals. Athletes won 1 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze awards.
Kaunas‘ girls’ team won silver at the girls’ beach volleyball tournament.
“The athletes from Kaunas and entire Lithuania proved to be very good – they spared no efforts in the arenas and did everything they could,” – said Laima Valiūtė, the Head of the Kaunas delegation.
Sportsmen from Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Garliava represented Lithuania in the ICG.
Gained the Most But Did Not Win
There is 51 medal in Lithuania’s account in total – 15 gold, 12 silver and 24 bronze. Lithuanians won awards in all sports with the exception of table tennis.
During the games, 130 sets of medals were handed out. Taipei’s athletes were best. Although the Azian athletes won fewer medals than hosts, but they won a bigger number of gold medals what allowed them to win in the overall ranking.
There are 38 medals in Taipei’s account in total – 20 gold, 11 silver and 7 bronze. In the swimming pool alone, the swimmers of Taipei and New Taipei won 14 gold medals, and 26 awards in total. Taipei’s athletes also dominated in the table tennis competition, they won 4 medals of total 6.
Thai athletes, represented by the team of the capital city Bangkok, remained in the third place in the Table of Medals. Thai team won 23 medals in total – 8 gold, 6 silver, 9 bronze.
The Largest Children’s Sports Event
Temporary capital was the first city in Lithuania and the Baltic States, which hosted the biggest sporting event for children. During the half-century history of the Games, tens of thousands of children from 12 to 15 years of age from more than 500 cities around the world took part in them.
Children competed in 3 × 3 basketball, minifootball, beach volleyball, athletics, judo, swimming, table tennis and sailing competitions.
“The preparations for the Games lasted more than a year. We have done our homework properly, therefore, there have been no complaints and failures during the games,” – said Giedrius Bielskus, the head of the Kaunas S. Darius and S. Girėnas Sports Center that organized the Games.
The Olympic champion Rūta Meilutytė, whose star for the first time came to light in the competitions that took place in Manama, Bahrein, in 2010, became the face and ambassador of the International Children’s Games.
Next year, the ICG will be held in Jerusalem, the city of Israel, whose representatives have been given a symbolic torch of the Games.

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