{"id":26406,"date":"2026-08-03T16:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=26406"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:22:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:22:00","slug":"lithuanian-police-launch-racism-probe-after-black-powerlifter-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=26406","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian police launch racism probe after black powerlifter incident"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">VILNIUS\/AMSTERDAM \u2013 Lithuanian police started an investigation on Aug 3 after an assistant at the World Classic Powerlifting Championships said he sabotaged a black athlete\u2019s squat attempt due to racism \u2013 a statement he later said was written to mock those accusing him of racism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Assistant Ernestas Kusinas, one of the safety crew watching over the athletes as they competed, placed his knee under Belgian women\u2019s champion Sonita Muluh\u2019s barbell, resulting in a failed attempt to squat 334.5kg, said the president of the Lithuanian Powerlifting Federation, which hosted the event in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Lithuanian federation referred the case to the police after Kusinas commented on Instagram: \u201cI am racist, and I did it intentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">A police spokesperson told Reuters the investigation will focus on the Instagram message and events at the championships, with a maximum penalty of two years in jail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Kusinas told Reuters 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 class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cI threw him the bone he wanted,\u201d added Kusinas, referring to an unidentified social media user who he said had accused him of racism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Kusinas said he unintentionally interfered with Muluh\u2019s and other athletes\u2019 attempts because he was tired after his duties at the event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Muluh, 29, a Cameroon-born Belgian athlete, has won medals at several powerlifting championships and became world champion in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Lithuanian federation barred Kusinas from all events, while the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) condemned racism and hateful conduct in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The incident was missed by judges, but was noticed in video recordings after the event, said the Lithuanian federation\u2019s president Domantas Barauskas. He said videos show Kusinas, a long-time spotter, interfering with other athletes\u2019 squat attempts, including a white Swedish powerlifter\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Muluh\u2019s partner Kristof de Coninck said she could have won if her final squat attempt had not been tampered with, and that poor assistance risked \u201cvery serious injuries\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cInitially, we thought it was a mistake,\u201d said de Coninck. \u201cBut then&#8230; it became clear (because of the social media comment) that the person had done it deliberately, motivated by racial bias.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He added that Kusinas had not contacted them after the event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">De Coninck said Muluh welcomed the Lithuanian police investigation, and was putting together an internal complaint with the IPF. <!-- -->REUTERS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/world\/europe\/lithuanian-police-launch-racism-investigation-after-black-powerlifter-incident\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VILNIUS\/AMSTERDAM \u2013 Lithuanian police started an investigation on Aug 3 after an assistant at the World Classic Powerlifting Championships said he sabotaged a black athlete\u2019s squat attempt due to racism \u2013 a statement he later said was written to mock those accusing him of racism. Assistant Ernestas Kusinas, one of the safety crew watching over [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26406","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 launch racism probe after black powerlifter incident - 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=26406\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lithuanian police launch racism probe after black powerlifter incident - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"VILNIUS\/AMSTERDAM \u2013 Lithuanian police started an investigation on Aug 3 after an assistant at the World Classic Powerlifting Championships said he sabotaged a black athlete\u2019s squat attempt due to racism \u2013 a statement he later said was written to mock those accusing him of racism. 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