Team Lithuania Triumphs at Seventh Olive Picking Championship

A team from the Baltic state of Lithuania has tri­umphed at the sev­enth World Olive Picking Championship held on the Croatian island of Brač. 

The unique com­pe­ti­tion took place in the parish olive grove of St. Josip near​the munic­i­pal­ity of Postira. Thirteen teams from Mediterranean coun­tries with a tra­di­tion of olive oil pro­duc­tion and oth­ers with­out a sin­gle olive grove par­tic­i­pated.

“Out of a total of 52, as much as 70 per­cent of the com­peti­tors came from coun­tries where olives are not grown,” said Ivana Jelinčić, direc­tor of the Tourist Board of Postira, which orga­nized the event with the local agri­cul­tural coop­er­a­tive.

Each team, com­posed of four mem­bers (two women and two men), tried to pick as many olives as pos­si­ble in 45 min­utes. Each com­peti­tor was given a pouch to carry the har­vested olives. After time expired, the teams gath­ered and weighed the olives.

Lithuania, which fin­ished sixth last year, won the com­pe­ti­tion by a wide mar­gin, har­vest­ing 90.2 kilo­grams. The Croatian team, which won in 2023, picked 77 kilo­grams, fol­lowed by the Polish team with 74.2 kilo­grams.

“We don’t have olives, but we have expe­ri­ence pick­ing apples, cher­ries, plums and pota­toes,” said Tadas Dunauskas from team Lithuania. ​“The link is also that we love olive oil.” 

“We are extremely happy and sat­is­fied because being the best among the best is some­thing spe­cial that we will remem­ber for the rest of our lives,” he added.

After pick­ing, the olives were imme­di­ately milled at the Postirska Agricultural Cooperative, and each con­tes­tant received a sou­venir bot­tle of extra vir­gin olive oil.

“We cel­e­brate the olive and spread the olive-grow­ing cul­ture world­wide,” said Jelinčić. 

While wait­ing for the results and the crown­ing of the new world cham­pi­ons, the par­tic­i­pants immersed them­selves in the island’s his­tory, cul­ture and rich her­itage, includ­ing vis­its to Pučišće, Vidova gora and the olive oil museum in Škripa.

In addi­tion to the Brač PDO extra vir­gin olive oil, local wines and gas­tro­nomic del­i­ca­cies, the par­tic­i­pants sam­pled the best Croatian gin, Poetica, awarded at the 2024 International Wine & Spirit Competition in London. 

“Poetica has been a part­ner of the World Olive Picking Championship for the sec­ond year, and as much as it con­tributes to our event, we seem to com­ple­ment their prod­ucts, as their Poetica Olive Infused Gin, infused with Brač olives of the Oblica vari­ety, won a sil­ver medal at the London com­pe­ti­tion with 92 out of pos­si­ble 100 points,” Jelinčić said.

The cham­pi­onship offi­cially ended with an award cer­e­mony in the hall of the Pastura Hotel. 

In addi­tion to the com­pet­i­tive part of the pro­gram, numer­ous tast­ings, excur­sions and social events were held so the par­tic­i­pants could expe­ri­ence Postire and the island of Brač, which boasts a cen­turies-old olive oil-pro­duc­ing tra­di­tion.

The first writ­ten traces of olive cul­ti­va­tion on the island were found in the man­u­scripts of the Roman travel writer Strabo from the 1^st cen­tury BC. Emperor Diocletian men­tioned olive cul­ti­va­tion in the 3^rd cen­tury, with olives planted in uncul­ti­vated areas from graft­ing wild olive trees.

Interesting sto­ries also come from the 16^th cen­tury, when the Venetian Senate decreed that any­one who dam­aged or cut down an olive tree would be ban­ished from Brač for up to 10 years. Furthermore, a com­mon bride price on the island involved the groom plant­ing olive trees.

The long his­tory of plant­ing and pre­serv­ing olive trees resulted in 500,000 trees grow­ing across Brač by the end of the 18^th cen­tury, with the island con­tribut­ing a plu­ral­ity of the olive oil pro­duced in the south­ern Croatian region of Dalmatia.

About one mil­lion olive trees grow on the island, account­ing for two-thirds of its agri­cul­ture. Oblica is the most com­mon vari­ety due to its resis­tance to drought and winds and abil­ity to thrive in poor, rocky soil.

Over the years, olive oil pro­duc­ers in Brač have show­cased the qual­ity of their prod­ucts, win­ning a series of awards at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

“We are prov­ing that agri­cul­ture and tourism can go together,” Jelinčić said. ​“This is how we ensure an authen­tic tourist expe­ri­ence and a healthy and pleas­ant life for the locals.”

Even Jan de Jong, the pres­i­dent and founder of Digital Nomads, whose team is com­pet­ing for the fourth time, did not hide his sat­is­fac­tion. He said olives have mul­ti­ple sym­bolic mean­ings that match well with dig­i­tal nomads.

The tourism indus­try has long rec­og­nized the World Olive Picking Championship’s suc­cess. 

The event won the best cre­ative expe­ri­ence at the 2019 Creative Tourism Network Awards and another award at the 2020 Fitur International Tourism Trade Fair.

“The award is a great recog­ni­tion, but it is an oblig­a­tion to keep improv­ing,” Jelinčić said. ​“Thank you, every­one, and see you next year.”