{"id":26265,"date":"2026-08-04T15:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=26265"},"modified":"2026-08-04T15:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:41:00","slug":"lithuanian-police-undertake-investigation-after-a-lithuanian-spotter-allegedly-stated-that-he-intentionally-sabotaged-a-world-record-attempt-because-he-is-racist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=26265","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian police undertake investigation after a Lithuanian spotter allegedly stated that he intentionally sabotaged a world record attempt because he is racist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"wysiwyg\">\n<p>Lithuanian police have undertaken a racism investigation after an assistant at the Powerlifting Championships allegedly admitted to sabotaging a black athlete\u2019s world record attempt because he is \u201cracist,\u201d a statement he claimed he made to ridicule racist allegations against him.<\/p>\n<p>The incident occurred at the International Powerlifting Federation\u00a0(IPF)\u00a0World Classic Open Powerlifting Championships,\u00a0which took place from June 13 to June 21, 2026, in Druskininkai,\u00a0Lithuania. Belgian powerlifter,\u00a0Sonita Muluh, a black athlete,\u00a0attempted\u00a0to achieve a women\u2019s world record, squatting 334.5kg.\u00a0However,\u00a0her final\u00a0attempt was nullified because the barbell\u00a0came into contact with\u00a0the leg of Lithuanian spotter,\u00a0Ernestas Kusinas.\u00a0A spotter in powerlifting is a safety assistant who watches a lifter, helps un-rack or re-rack heavy bars, and steps in to prevent injury if a lift fails.<\/p>\n<p>Kusinas then\u00a0allegedly\u00a0proceeded to take to social media, stating he\u00a0sabotaged Muluh\u2019s attempt because he\u00a0is\u00a0\u201cracist,\u201d and he has since been banned for life\u00a0by the Lithuanian Powerlifting Federation (LJTF),\u00a0which the IPF praised for being an\u00a0\u201cimmediate action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lrt.lt\/en\/news-in-english\/19\/3010175\/i-m-racist-and-i-did-it-on-purpose-lithuanian-volunteer-sabotages-athlete-s-performance?srsltid=AfmBOorG0y02kNPdzCl5Rk4eJr5pqFQGaD7zMDF3hmmMtkHiWpieJzLI\">LRT.LT<\/a>, when questioned why he did not create enough space so that he did not impede the squat attempt, Kusinas allegedly replied saying: \u201cI&#8217;m racist and I did it on purpose because I hate you\u2026No one got stuck except for one monkey relative.\u201d\u00a0He also allegedly commented the number 88 which relates to the slogan\u00a0\u201cheil Hitler.\u201d\u00a0These comments were\u00a0deleted\u00a0but people have posted what they claim to be screenshots.\u00a0Pictures of Kusinas allegedly wearing a Nazi eagle badge have also been circulating.\u00a0The\u00a0Lithuanian\u00a0police will\u00a0reportedly assess\u00a0Kusinas\u2019 social media activity.<\/p>\n<p>Kusinas told\u00a0\u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/lithuanian-police-launch-racism-investigation-after-black-powerlifter-incident-2026-08-03\/\">Reuters<\/a> his Instagram comment was written out of anger, in response to racism accusations, and was intended not as a statement but as a mockery of the accusations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI threw him the bone he wanted,\u201d added\u00a0Kusinas, referring\u00a0\u200bto an unidentified social media user who he said had accused him of racism.<\/p>\n<p>Muluh took to Instagram to express her hurt:\u00a0\u201cSpeechless\u2026I have dealt with racism in\u00a0numerous\u00a0ways but never in this manner.\u00a0I have defended this guy hoping he wouldn&#8217;t get any hate because I thought it was an honest mistake (cos we all are human) even though\u00a0I\u00a0myself was dealing with the frustration\u00a0and hurt from bombing out of the world\u00a0championships which also was a consequence of me missing this 3rd squat and losing 13kg and then to now read this from the same person is just\u00a0heart breaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The IPF has received criticism\u00a0as\u00a0some claim that its reaction was too slow. The incident started to receive attention around mid-July after American powerlifter,\u00a0Joe Sullivan,\u00a0drew attention to it on social media, and the federation issued a statement on 28 July which stated that:\u00a0\u201cThe IPF will coordinate with the relevant IPF Commissions,\u00a0the IPF Safeguarding Officer,\u00a0and the IPF Championships Team to identify\u00a0opportunities\u00a0to strengthen the recruitment,\u00a0screening,\u00a0accreditation,\u00a0and oversight of volunteers supporting IPF events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LJTF president,\u00a0Domantas Barauskas,\u00a0told LRT.LT that he spoke with Kusinas: \u201cI spoke to him. He explained that he reacted that way because he\u00a0couldn&#8217;t\u00a0cope with the pressure on social media and started saying those kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Barauskas continued:\u00a0\u201cHe has volunteered as a spotter at our championships for several years, and it never crossed anyone&#8217;s mind that something like this could happen or that he held such views\u2026<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s\u00a0more, we hosted the same World Championships in 2024, and the same Belgian athlete competed. If you watch the footage from then,\u00a0you&#8217;ll\u00a0see him encouraging and supporting her.\u00a0That&#8217;s\u00a0why what happened came as a complete shock to us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- End #authorship --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportresolutions.com\/news\/lithuanian-police-probe-alleged-racist-powerlifter-world-record-sabotage\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lithuanian police have undertaken a racism investigation after an assistant at the Powerlifting Championships allegedly admitted to sabotaging a black athlete\u2019s world record attempt because he is \u201cracist,\u201d a statement he claimed he made to ridicule racist allegations against him. The incident occurred at the International Powerlifting Federation\u00a0(IPF)\u00a0World Classic Open Powerlifting Championships,\u00a0which took place from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":26266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-powerlifting-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lithuanian police undertake investigation after a Lithuanian spotter allegedly stated that he intentionally sabotaged a world record attempt because he is racist - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=26265\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lithuanian police undertake investigation after a Lithuanian spotter allegedly stated that he intentionally sabotaged a world record attempt because he is racist - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lithuanian police have undertaken a racism investigation after an assistant at the Powerlifting Championships allegedly admitted to sabotaging a black athlete\u2019s world record attempt because he is \u201cracist,\u201d a statement he claimed he made to ridicule racist allegations against him. The incident occurred at the International Powerlifting Federation\u00a0(IPF)\u00a0World Classic Open Powerlifting Championships,\u00a0which took place from [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=26265\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-04T15:41:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sport Resolutions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sport Resolutions\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=26265#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=26265\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sport Resolutions\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/97a72a69f558b475d3928299935d5804\"},\"headline\":\"Lithuanian police undertake investigation after a Lithuanian spotter allegedly stated that he intentionally sabotaged a world record attempt because he is racist\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-04T15:41:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=26265\"},\"wordCount\":639,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=26265#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/ipf-3084-1785857871_-_28de80_-_5bc7a4bffea9247e7b57b4760d9dffe963fc4262.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Powerlifting News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=26265#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=26265\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=26265\",\"name\":\"Lithuanian police undertake investigation after a Lithuanian spotter allegedly stated that he intentionally sabotaged a world record attempt because he is racist - 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