The Cyprus Olympic Committee (COC; ) is

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

representing the

Republic of Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the third lar ...

. It is responsible for promoting the Olympic ideals on the island and for ensuring that Cyprus is represented with athletes at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

and other multi-sport events. Members of the committee are 31 sports federations, which elect the Executive Council composed of the president and twelve members. The COC organized twice the

Games of the Small States of Europe The Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) is a biennial multi-sport event, launched by the Republic of San Marino, organized by and featuring the National Olympic Committees of nine European small state, small states since 1985. The Games a ...

, in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

and in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Mission and Games

The Cyprus Olympic Committee is responsible for safeguarding and implementing Olympism and the Olympic ideals in Cyprus. It's also responsible for supporting, entering and overseeing teams for the Olympic Games,

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from countries served by national Olympic committees within the European Olympic Committees (EOC), the regional association for such committ ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

Mediterranean Beach Games The Mediterranean Beach Games is a multi-sport event organized by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM) since 2015. Formation The CIJM formed the games in a meeting on October 20, 2012 in Mersin, Turkey, and decided on a for ...

and other Junior-level multisport competitions such as the

Youth Olympic Games Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 15 to 18 years old. Organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with ...

, the Summer and Winter

European Youth Olympic Festival The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth (14 to 18 years old) athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the fi ...

and the Youth Commonwealth Games.

History

The Cyprus Olympic Committee was founded on June 10, 1974, and became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1979. Prior to that, Cypriot athletes competed in international events representing Greece. Amongst the most well known Cypriots who have represented Greece are

Ioannis Frangoudis Ioannis Frangoudis (; 1863 – 19 October 1916) was a Greek Cypriot Military officer, athlete and Olympic shooter. He served in the Hellenic Army reaching the rank of Colonel, and represented the kingdom of Greece in the 1896 Summer Olympics in ...

(triple shooting medalist in Athens 1896), Aristidis Konstantinidis (cycling gold medalist in Athens 1896), Stavros Tziortzis (7th in the 400m hurdles in Munich 1972) and Lakis Georgiou Psimolofitis (8th in skeet shooting in Munich 1972). Cyprus’ first ever Olympic participation came in the Winter Games of 1980 at Lake Placid in

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, while the debut of Cyprus in the Summer Olympics came six months later in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. Since then, Cyprus has been present at every Summer and Winter Olympic Games as well as other multisport events in continental and world level.

Landmark moments

The greatest accomplishment for Cyprus at the Olympics came in

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, when Laser sailor Pavlos Kontides won the silver medal, which is (as of 2017) the only Cypriot Olympic medal. Other successes for Cyprus at Olympic level were the 4th and 5th place by Antonis Nikolaidis and

Georgios Achilleos Georgios Achilleos (; born 24 December 1980) is a Cypriot sports shooter and past World titlist and World No. 1 in Skeet. He is a four-time Skeet Shooting medalist in the World Championships, and a four-time Olympian, with his 5th position ...

respectively at the

Beijing 2008 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

skeet shooting event, and the placing of six athletes (

Kyriakos Ioannou Kyriakos Ioannou (, born 26 July 1984) is a retired Cypriot high jumper. He has twice won medals at the World Athletics Championships (2007 and 2009) and was the bronze medallist at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He is the only medal ...

, Pavlos Kontides, Milan Trajkovic, Apostolos Parellis, Dimitrios Chondrokoukis and Marios Georgiou) in their event finals in the

Rio 2016 The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Games. Cyprus' best placing in the Commonwealth Games came in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, when the island was 10th among 75 nations in the medal standings at the XIX Commonwealth Games. The COC twice hosted the

, in compliance with the hosting rotation of the participant countries. The capital

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

hosted the III Games in 1989 while the event returned to the island in 2009 for the XIII Games with Nicosia and

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

hosting events.

List of presidents

Since 1974, six individuals have served as President of the Cyprus Olympic Committee. The longest term was that of Kikis N. Lazarides who served as president between 1984 and 2008. The current president is George Chrysostomou who was elected in October 2020 for the Olympic Cycle 2020–2024.

Executive committee

Following the scheduled elections for the four-year circle until 2024, in October 2020, George Chrysostomou was elected president, after serving as vice-president in the previous four-year cycle. Mr George Chrysostomou served as president of the Cyprus Basketball Federation between 2004 and 2014. The 2020-2024 committee of the Cyprus NOC is represented by: * President: George Chrysostomou * Vice President: Yiotis Ioannides * Secretary General: Andreas Georgiou * Treasurer: Alexandros Christoforou * Members: Andreas Theofylaktou, Sotos Trikomitis, Pavlos Georgiades, George Apostolou, Demetris Leontis, George Papageorgiou, Odysseas Patsalides.

Member federations

The Cyprus National Federations are the organizations that coordinate all aspects of their individual sports. They are responsible for training, competition and development of their sports. There are currently 29 Olympic Summer and two Winter Sport Federations in Cyprus.

Olympic House and Museum

The Olympic House, headquarters of the COC, opened on September 16, 2006, in a ceremony attended by the then

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Tassos Papadopoulos Efstathios "Tassos" Nikolaou Papadopoulos (; 7 January 1934 – 12 December 2008) was a Cypriot politician and barrister, who served as President of Cyprus from 2003 to 2008. An experienced member of the Makarios III’s cabinet, Papadopo ...

and president of the IOC

Jacques Rogge Jacques Jean Marie, Count Rogge (, ; 2 May 1942 – 29 August 2021) was a Belgian sports administrator, former athlete, and physician, who served as the eighth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2013. In 201 ...

. The three-story building houses almost every sporting federations of the island, including sports which aren't on the Olympic schedule. The Olympic House covers an area of 7500 m2 and cost 5,63 million Cyprus pounds. The Olympic House also houses the Cyprus Olympic Museum, which spans since 2012 on all three floors of the building. More than 400 artifacts are on display in the Olympic Museum, including the suit worn by Pavlos Kontides at London 2012, a medal won by Theofanis Theodotou in the

Zappas Olympics The Zappas Olympics (), simply called Olympics (, ''Olympia'') at the time, were a series of athletic events held in Athens, Greece, in 1859, 1870 and 1875, sponsored by Greek businessman Evangelis Zappas. These games were one of the first revi ...

in 1888 and sporting gear of the 1946

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by eight cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ins ...

winner Stylianos Kyriakides.

Events and awards

In a way of implementing the beliefs and ideals of the Olympic Movement, the COC organizes events which inspire people and the younger generation. The special events vary from year to year and include multisport events as well as local and national events. These are the Olympic Day, Pierre de Coubertin student conference, National Olympic Academy conference, Olympic Education program, Woman in Sport conference, Award Banquets for the best junior athletes, and Fair Play ambassador appointment. The COC also organizes events which target to integrate and introduce sports to persons from sensitive groups such as refugees.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

Cyprus at the Olympics 1974 establishments in Cyprus Ol Sports organizations established in 1974