Antonis Aresti is a former

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

and

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

from

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 ...

who competed mainly in category T46 and T47 sprint events. He competed in the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China. There he won a silver medal in the men's 200 metres – T46 event and a silver medal in the men's 400 metres – T46 event

Career

Born on 15 February 1983 in

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 ...

by Leonidas and Androula Aresti. At the age of three years, Aresti was dragged by a moving car while he was trying to cross the street. The accident caused a damage on his left hand. Such disability pushed the Cypriot sprinter to deal with sports. He started practising athletics at early age by participating in school events mainly in long-distance races. At age 14 he started running seriously. Then, he won many medals in local youth championships in athletics. Also, he participated in world organisations as a member of the national team of

. He studied Physical Education at National Sports Academy (NSA) of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

and graduated in 2008. His coach is Efthymios Kyprianou. Antonis Arestis after racing

World and European Championships

Aresti's first big worldwide success occurred during his participation at the Athletics World Championship for athletes with disabilities in

Assen Assen () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in ...

, Netherlands in 2006, where he won the bronze medal in the men's 400 meters category T46. The second worldwide success of the Cypriot runner, occurred in 2007 during his participation at the Athletics World Championships organised by the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation ( IWAS) in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

where he won the silver medal in the men's 200 meters category T46. In January 2011, Aresti participated in the Athletics World Championship for athletes with disabilities in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

of New Zealand. He won two gold medals at the finals of the events: Men's 200 meters category T46 and Men's 400 meters category T46 with times of 22.25 seconds and 49.44 seconds respectively. Additionally, the Cypriot champion athlete conquered three more medals in the 2012 European Championships organised by the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

in June 2012 in

Stadskanaal Stadskanaal () is a town and municipality with a population of 32,715 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. It was named after the canal Stadskanaal. From 1800 until 1900 this area was ideal for its peat mining, and so ...

. Specifically, he won the gold medal in men's 400 meters category T46 with a time of 50.55 seconds, the gold in the men's 200 meters category T46 with a time of 22.58 seconds and a silver medal in men's 100 meters category T46 with a time of 11.36 seconds. After three years of absence from the land of the track due to injuries, Aresti returns to world athletic events in 2015. In June 2015, Aresti participated in the Hellenic Championship for Disabled Athletes and secured the limit for his participation in the Athletics World Championship for athletes with disabilities organized in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

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in October 2015 by the

in category T47. In June 2016, the Cypriot champion athlete participated in 2016 European Championships organised by the

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the ...

, Italy. Aresti won his 4th medal in European level.

Participation in Paralympic Games

Aresti participated at the 13th Summer Paralympic Games held in

in September 2008. His participation was a great moment for both his career and the history of Cypriot sport since he managed to win two silver medals in the Men's 200m T46 and Men's 400m T46 with times of 22.15 seconds and 48.87 seconds respectively. During the 14th Summer Paralympic Games held in London in 2012, the Cypriot sprinter participated and finished fourth in the finals of men's 200m category T46 and men's 400m category T46 with times 22.40 seconds and 49.59 seconds respectively. Also, he participated in the men's 100m race category T46 with time 11.36 but did not qualify for the final race of the event. Aresti secured participation in the 15th Summer Paralympic Games to be held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

in September 2016.

Personal Bests

Other Participation

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aresti, Antonis 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Limassol Cypriot male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for Cyprus Paralympic athletes for Cyprus Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Medalists at the World Para Athletics European Championships Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic sprinters