Lithuania hosts sauna competition

Druskininkai, Lithuania, November 8th 2008 1. Wide entrance Druskininkai Water Park 2. Wide swimming pool 3. Wide people in pool at bar 4. Close-up man beats woman in sauna with birch leaves 5. Wide same 6. SOUNDBITE: (Lithuanian) Juozas Austrotas, Professional Banya Master: "I make my own bunches of birch leaves, they come from oak, maple or birch trees, or sometimes I make a bunch from different trees. These are usually the best. Women like them, and they suit people who are suffering from various illnesses." 7. Wide Austrotas flaps birch leaves over woman 8. SOUNDBITE: (Lithuanian) Aleksandrasa Ruta, Customer: "To come to the banya is to relax and get some steam. The most important thing is to get a good bunch of leaves, that even makes up for bad steam." 9. Mid shot contestants and judges enter sauna area 10. Mid shot men carry in tub of birch leaves 11. Wide contestants preparing birch leaves 12. Close-up man soaks leaves in water 13. Wide contestant with birch leaves 14. Wide judges sit in sauna 15. Wide contestant performing in sauna 16. Mid man drips water from birch leaves onto woman's legs 17. Mid contestant lightly hits woman on chest and stomach 18. Wide female contestant working 19. Mid judges talking 20. Wide female contestant waves birch leaves over man (filmed through window) 21. SOUNDBITE: (Lithuanian) Nijole Nagurnaite, Contestant I rate my performance as a 4.5 (out of 5), because there was little steam and heat, so it was difficult to work as normal. I'm not used to working in these type of conditions. I forgot a few things from nerves, but overall I think I got a 4.5. 22. Wide Latvian contestant 23. Cutaway legs 24. Mid people applaud Latvian contestant 25. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Romualds Lamsters, Contestant from Latvia: "I think it went well. I always do a good job, never do a bad one. Of course there was an element of show, but since it was a demonstration that was unavoidable, but at the same time I was focused on the customer because the customer must always be satisfied." 27. Mid man pours bucket of cold water over customer 28. Mid Vasily Lyakhov performing 29. Cutaway people watching 30. Mid Lyakhov waves two bunches of birch leaves over customer 31. Wide people watch 32. Mid Lyakhov wraps customer in towel and embraces her 33. SOUNDBITE: (Lithuanian) Nastya, Customer: "Thank you, thank you. I feel totally reborn. Thank you so much." 34. Wide Lyakhov talks to journalists 35. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vasily Lyakhov, contestant from Russia: "It was very difficult to catch the steam so I tried more to make use of the electric steam. I showed the whole range of what I do, and particularly what I felt the person lying on the bench - Nastya - needed most of all." 36. Various Finnish contestant performing (filmed through window) 37. Finnish contestant plays mouth organ to end his performance 38. Wide judges giving marks 39. Close-up scoring sheet 40. SOUNDBITE: (Finnish) Pentii Tuohimaa, Judge: "I have seen some excellent performances with birch leaves. I have to say that in Finland we don't have a similar culture of using birch leaves. We are very poor in this sense compared with Lithuania." 41. Wide award ceremony 42. Cutaway photographer 43. Mid Vasily Lyakhov announced as the winner 44. Wide cutaway 45. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vasily Lyakhov, Contest winner from Russia: "My plans remain the same. I am preparing a banya school to teach master classes. I want to pass on my knowledge and experience to the greatest number of students, so that the methods are not lost and are used for the good of people's health and their satisfaction." 46. Mid Lyakhov holds certificates LEAD IN: STORYLINE: The more water is poured, the hotter the steam room gets. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/27407144ae778a1d1ef9fec44d5ff421 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork