
Rūta Meilutytė
Acting
Biography
Rūta Meilutytė (Lithuanian pronunciation: [ruːˈtɐ mʲɛɪ̯ɫʊˈtʲi̇̂ːtʲeː]; born 19 March 1997) is a Lithuanian swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and world record-holder. She is the current world record holder in the 100 metre breaststroke (short course). At the age of 15, she had already broken eleven Lithuanian women's swimming records.[1] At the 2011 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Trabzon, Meilutytė won the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke, a silver in the 50m freestyle and a bronze in the 100m freestyle. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Meilutytė won the gold medal in the women's 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:05.47.[2][3][4][5] At age 15, she was also the youngest Lithuanian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. In the semi-final she broke the European record in the 100m breastroke with a time of 1:05:21. In 2013 Meilutytė broke her own European record by 0.01 of a second.[6] Rūta competed at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona and achieved world records in the 50 and 100 metre breaststroke.[7] At the age of 17 she became the first and the only swimmer in history to win all available junior and senior international swimming championships at least once.[8] Description above from the Wikipedia article Julia Roberts licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For

The performance is a call for action in support of the Ukrainian people facing Russia’s ongoing war and violence. Performed by Lithuanian Olympian Rūta Meilutytė, swimming through blood-red water in front of the Russian Embassy in Vilnius, the work becomes a powerful symbol of resistance, solidarity, and the urgent need to not remain neutral.
Swimming Through

Ruta Meilutyte is one of the most recognizable and likeable people in Lithuania. She inspires the young generation to chase their goals and the rest of us - to be proud of Lithuania. Ruta is much more than a great athlete, she is the symbol of today's Lithuania. Currently a documentary is being produced that will allow the viewers to see Ruta's daily life from up close and hopefully understand a bit more about the amount of hard work that goes into preparing for this short distance swim.