The 41st EOC General Assembly, which took place in Rome last 7th and 8th December, has chosen the young Lithuanian swimming star Ruta Meilutyte as best European young athlete of the year. The trophy for the 2nd Piotr Nurowski Prize and a 12,000 euro cheque by way of training grant were remitted to the NOC at the farewell dinner, as the athlete was unable to come to Rome due to training commitments.
Ruta, aged 15, was voted by the delegations of the 49 NOCs of Europe out of a shortlist of 5 nominees, selected out of the 21 candidatures received within the deadline, and namely:
Charlotte BONNET(FRA) swimming
Larisa Andrea IORDACHE (ROU) artistic gymnastics
Ruta MEILUTYTE (LTU) swimming
Marco SCHWARZ (AUT) alpine skiing
Oleg STEPKO (UKR) artistic gymnastics
Ruta was born in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second city, in 1997 and lost her mother in a road accident when 4. At the age of 11 she left Lithuania and went to live in Plymouth, in the UK, where she began swimming.
She won her first record in 2010, and last year at the Trabzon EYOF she won gold in the 100 m breaststroke (1 min 7s 96), a silver in 50 m freestyle (25s 67) and bronze in the 100 m freestyle (56s 41).
Then, at the London Olympic Games she beat the European 100 m breaststroke record in the semi-finals, and a few days later she won the gold medal with 1 min 5 s 47.
The Piotr Nurowski Prize was created in 2010 in memory of the president of the Polish NOC who tragically died in a plane crash in April 2010. An outstanding Olympic leader, Piotr Nurowski was a member of the EOC executive committee, and through his example the EOC aims to encourage young athletes to embrace elite sport, and future generations to adopt a healthy life style based on Olympic principles and values. The 1st Piotr Nurowski Prize was won by Polish cyclist Tobiasz Lis.