BEIJING, 19 August 2008 - Cyprus completed its 2008
Beijing Olympic Games appearance, today, with mixed
emotions. Without doubt this was the best ever
performance by the island nation in the Olympic
Games, since competing independently as of Moscow
1980--but that all-elusive first ever medal still
remains beyond reach.
Cyprus'
love affair with Shooting goes back to the inaugural
Olympic Games of the modern era. It was in 1896 in
Athens that Ioannis Phrangoudis, the only Cypriot
ever to win a medal, clinched a gold, a silver and a
bronze--although these have been credited to Greece,
under whose flag Cypriots participated.
One
hundred and twelve years later Cyprus came as close
as can be to bringing home its first medal since Athens
1896. Antonis Nikolaidis lost a shoot-off to Anthony
Terras of France for the bronze medal of the men's
Skeet competition, while the reigning world
champion, Giorgos Achilleos, finished just behind,
in 5th.
Just a
day earlier, in Beijing, Andri Eleftheriou had
become the best-ranked Cypriot since 1980 at any
Olympic competition, finishing 7th in the women's
Skeet and narrowly missing a berth in the
finals--only to see her achievement bettered by
Nikolaidis and Achilleos the next day.
In
Sailing, too, Cyprus narrowly missed entering the
top ten and an appearance at the medals races, with
Andreas Cariolou in the men's RS:X class and Pavlos
Kontides in the Laser class both ranking 13th
overall. Gavriella Hadjidamianou ranked 21st in the
women's RS:X class and Charis Papadopoulos was 22nd
in the Finn class.
In
Athletics Eleni Artymata finished her women's 200m
heat fourth in 23.58, a personal season best, to
qualify to the quarter finals of the event. In the
quarter-finals heat she finished 7th in 23.77, for
an overall ranking of 32nd. In other Athletics
appearances jumpers and throwers failed to qualify
to the finals: Kyriacos Ioannou cleared 2.25m in the
men's High Jump--10cm below his own National Record
for seventh place in his qualification group and
18th place overall. Ioannou was aiming to become the
first ever Cypriot to qualify to an Athletics final.
Anna Foitidou in the women's Pole Vault, Skevi
Theodorou in the women's Hammer Throw and Alexandra
Tsisiou in the women's Javelin Throw also remained
below their personal bests and far from berths in
the finals. Alissa Kallinikou also failed to move
past the heats, but competition was so fierce in the
women's 400m that she would have needed a new
National Record to qualify to the next round.
Elena
Mousikou was 56th in the Archery women's 70m
Individual Ranking Round drawing a formidable
opponent in the 1/32 Elimination Round--Japan's Nami
Hayakama to whom she fell 103-112 for a 42nd place
overall.
Both of
Cyprus' swimmers failed to qualify past the first
round in three events. But Anna Stylianou smashed
two National Records in her first ever Olympic
appearance. The 22-year old shattered her own
National Record of 2:01.60 in the 200m Freestyle,
finishing third in her heat in 2:00:55. A day
later she swam the 100m Freestyle in 56.38 to break her
own previous record of 56.77. Although in both cases
this was not enough for a berth in the next round,
her mission in Beijing can be considered as
accomplished. Natalia Hadjiloizou, returning to
action after an eight-year absence from the swimming
pools, swam short of her own personal best in the
100m butterfly, for a 45th overall ranking.
Competing in the 69kg cateogry (instead of his usual
62kg) of the Weighlifting competition in Beijing
Dimitris Minasides finished 20th overall, leaving
high hopes for the future, as the second youngest
athlete, at 19, of his category. Minasides was the
first ever weightlifter to represent Cyprus in the
Olympic Games.
CYPRUS IN BEIJING 2008 AT-A-GLANCE:
ARCHERY |
|
Athlete |
Discipline |
Event |
Score |
Overall |
|
Elena Mousikou |
70m (W) |
Individual Ranking
Round |
589 |
56th |
|
Individual 1/32
Eliminations |
v. JPN 103-112 |
43rd |
|
ATHLETICS |
|
Athlete |
Discipline |
Event |
Score |
Rk |
Overall |
|
Kyriacos Ioannou |
High Jump (M) |
Qualification -
Group B |
2.25m |
7th |
18th |
|
Alexandra Tsisiou |
Javelin Throw (W) |
Qualification -
Group B |
53.24m |
21st |
45th |
|
Anna Foitidou |
Pole Vault (W) |
Qualification -
Group B |
4.00m |
16th |
34th |
|
Eleni Artymata |
200m (W) |
Round 1 - Heat 3 |
23.58 |
q 4th |
32nd |
|
Round 2 - Heat 4 |
23.77 |
7th |
|
Alissa Kallinikou |
400m (W) |
Round 1 - Heat 7 |
52.40 |
5th |
26th |
|
Paraskevi Theodorou |
Hammer Throw (W) |
Qualification -
Group B |
61.00 |
22nd |
44th |
|
SAILING |
|
Athlete |
Discipline |
Score |
Overall |
|
Andreas Cariolou |
RS:X (M) |
7, 17, 14, 10, 11,
17, 11, (19), 14, 10 - 111 net pts |
13th |
|
Pavlos Kontides |
Laser |
8, 7, 24, 14, 5,
12, 14, 29, (35) - 113 net pts |
13th |
|
Charis Papadopoulos |
Finn |
13, 18, 21, 11, 24,
11, 17, (25) - 115 net pts |
22nd |
|
Gavriella
Hadjidamianou |
RS:X (W) |
19, 22, 23, 22, 15,
23, (25), 22, 20, 16 - 182 net pts |
21st |
|
SHOOTING |
|
Athlete |
Discipline |
Event |
Score |
Rk |
Overall |
|
Giorgos Achilleos |
Skeet (M) |
Qualification |
119/125 |
5th |
5th |
|
Final |
24/25 |
5th |
|
Antonis Nicolaides |
Skeet (M) |
Qualification - Day
1 |
120/125 |
4th |
4th |
|
Final |
24/25 |
3rd |
|
Shoot-Off |
+2 |
2nd |
|
Andri Eleftheriou |
Skeet (W) |
Qualification |
67/75 |
7th |
7th |
|
SWIMMING |
|
Athlete |
Discipline |
Event |
Score |
Rk |
Overall |
|
Anna Stylianou |
100m Freestyle (W) |
Heat 3 |
NR 56.38 |
6th |
36th |
|
200m. Freestyle (W) |
Heat 3 |
NR 2:00.55 |
3rd |
27th |
|
Natalia Hadjiloizou |
100m Butterfly (W) |
Heat 2 |
1:01.80 |
5th |
45th |
|
WEIGHTLIFTING |
|
Athlete |
Discipline |
Score |
Overall |
|
Dimitris Minasides |
69kg (M) |
Snatch 128kg, Jerk
155kg: Total 283kg |
20th |
