09-15-2026, 08:34 AM
THEY BANNED BODYBUILDING.
HE HELD THE COMPETITIONS ANYWAY.
From illegal competitions in Soviet Lithuania to a Pope’s medal in the Vatican — a story that sounds almost impossible today
1976. Soviet Lithuania.
Bodybuilding was banned.
The authorities did not want it. The system regarded it as something foreign, suspicious and unnecessary.
But someone decided that a ban would not be the final word.
Edmundas Daubaras began organizing bodybuilding competitions.
Public competitions.
At the time — illegal in the eyes of the authorities.
And this is where a story began that, decades later, would lead from Lithuania to Moscow — and ultimately to the Vatican.
NOT IN A GYM. AGAINST THE SYSTEM.
Today, bodybuilding competitions seem completely ordinary.
A stage. Spotlights. Athletes. Judges. Medals.
But in Soviet Lithuania, everything was different.
In 1976–1977, organizing public bodybuilding competitions meant challenging the system.
Athletes wanted to train.
They wanted to compete.
They wanted to demonstrate the results of their work.
And the system said: no.
The answer was simple:
“The competitions will take place anyway.”
And they did.
In Klaipėda, the authorities later permitted bodybuilding competitions to be held.
But that was not the end of the story.
It was only the beginning.
1978. A PETITION — TO MOSCOW
When organizing competitions was no longer enough, an even bolder step was taken.
In 1978, Edmundas Daubaras wrote a petition defending bodybuilding.
And he did not take it to some local authority.
Not to a sports club.
Not to a newspaper editorial office.
He took it to Moscow. To the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
It was an attempt to address the system itself.
Directly.
Without intermediaries.
To demand recognition of the right of a sport to exist — a sport to which the system had imposed restrictions.
Today, individual circumstances of that period may be interpreted in different ways. But one fact cannot be denied:
A man living under the Soviet system chose to openly defend something that the system sought to restrict.
DECADES PASSED.
Time changed the world.
The Soviet Union disappeared.
The Iron Curtain fell.
Bodybuilding became an international sport.
And a story that had once been associated with bans and state control eventually reached a completely different place.
The Vatican.
2011. THE VATICAN.
During an official reception for WFF-WBBF leaders at the Vatican, representatives of the Catholic Church were introduced to this history.
They learned about the position of bodybuilding under the communist system.
About the bans.
About the first competitions.
About the petition to Moscow.
About the activities of Edmundas Daubaras.
And then something happened that nobody at the beginning of this story could have predicted.
Cardinal Jozef Tomko described Edmundas Daubaras’s actions toward the communist regime as dissident in nature.
And there was more.
Edmundas Daubaras was awarded a medal of Pope Benedict XVI.
Later, the WFF-WBBF federation received an official letter from the Vatican blessing the federation’s activities.
From illegal competitions in Soviet Lithuania — to the Vatican.
From prohibition — to blessing.
Could there be a more striking historical irony?
60 YEARS. AND ONE EXTRAORDINARY STORY.
Today, WFF-WBBF celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Six decades of sporting history.
But among the countless dates, championships, athletes and titles, there is one story that stands out.
Because it did not begin under comfortable circumstances.
Not in a free country.
Not at a time when everything was permitted.
It began when people had to fight for the very right to organize bodybuilding competitions.
And that is precisely why this story deserves to be remembered.
BECAUSE SOMETIMES A MEDAL IS NOT FOR MUSCLES.
In sports history, medals are usually awarded for victories.
For records.
For championship titles.
But in this story, the medal presented at the Vatican carried an entirely different meaning.
It became a symbolic recognition of the work of a man who began acting at a time when even the right to organize bodybuilding competitions could not be taken for granted.
1976–1977 — illegal competitions.
1978 — petition to Moscow.
2011 — the Vatican.
Medal of Pope Benedict XVI.
Recognition by Cardinal Jozef Tomko.
Official Vatican blessing of WFF-WBBF activities.
That is the journey.
And so, as the federation marks its 60th anniversary, one can say it very simply:
WHEN THE SYSTEM SAID “NO” — SPORT SAID “YES.”
And history remembered it.
HE HELD THE COMPETITIONS ANYWAY.
From illegal competitions in Soviet Lithuania to a Pope’s medal in the Vatican — a story that sounds almost impossible today
1976. Soviet Lithuania.
Bodybuilding was banned.
The authorities did not want it. The system regarded it as something foreign, suspicious and unnecessary.
But someone decided that a ban would not be the final word.
Edmundas Daubaras began organizing bodybuilding competitions.
Public competitions.
At the time — illegal in the eyes of the authorities.
And this is where a story began that, decades later, would lead from Lithuania to Moscow — and ultimately to the Vatican.
NOT IN A GYM. AGAINST THE SYSTEM.
Today, bodybuilding competitions seem completely ordinary.
A stage. Spotlights. Athletes. Judges. Medals.
But in Soviet Lithuania, everything was different.
In 1976–1977, organizing public bodybuilding competitions meant challenging the system.
Athletes wanted to train.
They wanted to compete.
They wanted to demonstrate the results of their work.
And the system said: no.
The answer was simple:
“The competitions will take place anyway.”
And they did.
In Klaipėda, the authorities later permitted bodybuilding competitions to be held.
But that was not the end of the story.
It was only the beginning.
1978. A PETITION — TO MOSCOW
When organizing competitions was no longer enough, an even bolder step was taken.
In 1978, Edmundas Daubaras wrote a petition defending bodybuilding.
And he did not take it to some local authority.
Not to a sports club.
Not to a newspaper editorial office.
He took it to Moscow. To the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
It was an attempt to address the system itself.
Directly.
Without intermediaries.
To demand recognition of the right of a sport to exist — a sport to which the system had imposed restrictions.
Today, individual circumstances of that period may be interpreted in different ways. But one fact cannot be denied:
A man living under the Soviet system chose to openly defend something that the system sought to restrict.
DECADES PASSED.
Time changed the world.
The Soviet Union disappeared.
The Iron Curtain fell.
Bodybuilding became an international sport.
And a story that had once been associated with bans and state control eventually reached a completely different place.
The Vatican.
2011. THE VATICAN.
During an official reception for WFF-WBBF leaders at the Vatican, representatives of the Catholic Church were introduced to this history.
They learned about the position of bodybuilding under the communist system.
About the bans.
About the first competitions.
About the petition to Moscow.
About the activities of Edmundas Daubaras.
And then something happened that nobody at the beginning of this story could have predicted.
Cardinal Jozef Tomko described Edmundas Daubaras’s actions toward the communist regime as dissident in nature.
And there was more.
Edmundas Daubaras was awarded a medal of Pope Benedict XVI.
Later, the WFF-WBBF federation received an official letter from the Vatican blessing the federation’s activities.
From illegal competitions in Soviet Lithuania — to the Vatican.
From prohibition — to blessing.
Could there be a more striking historical irony?
60 YEARS. AND ONE EXTRAORDINARY STORY.
Today, WFF-WBBF celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Six decades of sporting history.
But among the countless dates, championships, athletes and titles, there is one story that stands out.
Because it did not begin under comfortable circumstances.
Not in a free country.
Not at a time when everything was permitted.
It began when people had to fight for the very right to organize bodybuilding competitions.
And that is precisely why this story deserves to be remembered.
BECAUSE SOMETIMES A MEDAL IS NOT FOR MUSCLES.
In sports history, medals are usually awarded for victories.
For records.
For championship titles.
But in this story, the medal presented at the Vatican carried an entirely different meaning.
It became a symbolic recognition of the work of a man who began acting at a time when even the right to organize bodybuilding competitions could not be taken for granted.
1976–1977 — illegal competitions.
1978 — petition to Moscow.
2011 — the Vatican.
Medal of Pope Benedict XVI.
Recognition by Cardinal Jozef Tomko.
Official Vatican blessing of WFF-WBBF activities.
That is the journey.
And so, as the federation marks its 60th anniversary, one can say it very simply:
WHEN THE SYSTEM SAID “NO” — SPORT SAID “YES.”
And history remembered it.