Vladas Česiūnas

Vladislovas Česiūnas (15 March 1940 – 16 January 2023) was a Lithuanian sprint canoeist who competed in the early 1970s, representing the Soviet Union. He won one Olympic medal and six ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medals during his career. He later became known for his role in "The Česiūnas Affair" when he defected from the 1979 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, West Germany only to return to the Soviet Union afterward for his "misconduct".

Sporting career At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Česiūnas won gold in the C-2 1000 m with Yuri Lobanov. He also won six canoe sprint world championship medals with four golds (C-2 1000 m: 1974, C-2 10000 m: 1973, 1974, 1975), one silver (C-2 1000 m: 1973), and one bronze (C-1 1000 m: 1971).

The Česiūnas Affair At the 1979 canoe sprint World Championships in Duisburg, West Germany, Česiūnas attended the event as a spectator.

However, while he was studying German in Dortmund, KGB agents allegedly swooped in and took Česiūnas back to the Soviet Union. As a result, Česiūnas was demoted from his custom agent position to being a civilian coach at a children's sports school which paid only a third of the salary of his customs position. In 2000, Česiūnas was informed that Vorkhert, whom he met in Lithuania in 1998 after the country's 1991 independence, had died at 75. Česiūnas later returned to his customs position, becoming head of shifts for Lithuanian customs as of 2002. He also received monthly pensions from the Soviet and Lithuanian Olympic Committee of US$30 and US$120, respectively.