BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 6 : THE REVENGE FACTOR COVERS A LOT OF YEARS

When Lithuania met the Commonwealth of Independent State in the European qualifying basketball tournament, Lithuania won by 37 points. As the lead mounted in the second half, there was some talk among the Lithuanians about beating the remnants of the Soviet Union by 52 points--one for each year that the Soviets occupied Lithuania, which won its freedom last year.

The two teams meet today, but the Lithuanians say the earlier victory eliminated some of the emotions because it was the first time the teams played. Still, the Lithuanians are basking in the joy of the first victory.

“It was very important for us to beat an enemy we could not beat in an arms strike,” said Arnus Pakula, head of the Lithuanian basketball delegation. “But we could beat them legally on the court.”

* This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.