President congratulates athletes as Cyprus takes 16th place in Commonwealth Games

Cyprus clinched 16^th place among 72 countries in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, winning 11 medals – two gold, three silver and six bronze.

The games came to an end on Monday evening in Birmingham, with President Nicos Anastasiades leading congratulations to Cyprus’ team.

“Congratulations to our athletes for their excellent achievements and the 11 medals at the Commonwealth Games. Allow me to make a special reference to our ‘golden’ Elias Georgiou & Giorgos Balarsjishvili who raised our country to the highest podium,” the president wrote on Twitter.

Συγχαρητήρια στις αθλήτριες και αθλητές μας για τις εξαιρετικές επιδόσεις και τα 11 μετάλλια στους Κοινοπολιτειακούς Αγώνες @birminghamcg22. Ιδιαίτερη αναφορά επιτρέψτε μου να κάνω στους “χρυσούς” Ηλία Γεωργίου & Γιώργο Μπαλαρτζισβίλι που ανέβασαν τη χώρα μας στο πιο ψηλό βάθρο. pic.twitter.com/6ILwFVpkls

— Nicos Anastasiades (@AnastasiadesCY) August 9, 2022

The Cyprus News Agency described Cyprus’ performance as “very satisfactory”, especially in view of the fact that there were no shooting events in Birmingham, where Cyprus had excelled at previous Commonwealth Games.

Georgios Balarjishvili won the gold in judo in the 66kg category, as did Elias Georgiou who won the gold medal in gymnastics.

Anna Sokolova secured two silver medals in rhythmic gymnastics, and Sokratis Pilakouris one silver in gymnastics.

The six bronze medals were won by Alexandros Poursanidis in hammer throw, Anna Sokolova in rhythmic gymnastics, the men’s gymnastics team (Marios Georgiou, Elias Georgiou, Georgios Angonas, Sokratis Pilakouris and Michalis Chari), and three by Marios Georgiou in gymnastics.

Team head Giorgos Papageorgiou told CNA that the team had achieved all four targets set before the Games.

The first goal concerned the off- and on-field behaviour of both the athletes and all members of the team. As he said, there have been no complaints on behalf of the organisers.

The second goal had to do with doping and noted that doping tests were carried out and all came out negative for the Cypriot medalists, so this goal was also a success.

The third aim, he said, was to bring the members of the mission closer and added that “indeed, there was definitely a family atmosphere and we all cheered on the athletes’ successes and were saddened by their failures.”

Regarding the fourth target, ie the medals, Papageorgiou expressed great satisfaction saying that “a small island of one million population has managed to take 16th place among 72 countries, with 11 medals, two gold, three silver and six bronze.”

He thanked everyone who contributed to the success of the mission, the athletes and their coaches, the athletes’ parents, the members of the Federations, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, the Ministry of Finance, the Cyprus Sports Organisation, the sponsors of the Cyprus Olympic Committee, as well as CyBC and CNA for covering the Games.

Birmingham handed over the Commonwealth Games mantle to the 2026 host, Melbourne.