On October 10, 1988 LSSR physical education and sport organization created a special group to reestablish National Olympic Committee of Lithuania.

At same year December 11 in Vilnius was held delegates session in which LTOK was restored, and Artūras Poviliūnas was elected its president.

Following the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania on March 11, the republic withdrew its athletes from all Soviet national competitions.

[1] Lithuania attempted to first compete on its own at the 1990 Goodwill Games that would be contested from July to August, but the request was rejected and an attempt to make the athletes carry the republic's flag during welcoming ceremonies and wear patches on their Soviet uniforms bearing the Lithuanian insignia was not accepted by the LTOK.

Lithuania was along with Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia one of the first parts of the former USSR to participate as an independent country.