Ethics committee aims to restore Cyprus sport’s reputation

The sports’ ethics committee announced on Friday it will investigate allegations made against the Cyprus Olympic committee (Koe) and some its members during a House committee meeting earlier this week.

The House ethics committee on Wednesday heard complaints from the audit service regarding Cyprus’ participation in the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) in Malta in May, as the total cost of the Cypriot mission was much larger than for previous events.

Specifically, auditor general Odysseas Michaelides told the committee that in addition to the 187 athletes, another 100 people were also part of the mission, including a large number of media representatives, with all expenses paid using funds provided by the foreign ministry.

An additional complaint was that the Koe president stayed in a more expensive hotel than other members of the mission.

According to the announcement by the ethics committee, the accusations against the Olympics’ committee have tarnished the name of both the committee and Cypriot sports, and rivalries have flared up.

As a last-ditch effort to restore the Olympic committee’s prestige, the ethics committee hopes to “restore credibility of the Cyprus Olympic Committee and by extension of Cypriot sports,” an announcement said.

To this end, the sports’ ethics committee will seek a meeting and exchange of views with the minister of education, sports and youth.

Koe general secretary Andreas Georgiou and committee members present at this week’s session painted a disparaging picture of the Koe president Giorgos Chrysostomou’s management style, claiming poor communication about important meetings and decision-making, and bullying.

They went as far as to question whether a sponsorship of €200,000 from Opap was used as intended since there were no meetings on the subject, and information about the Malta mission was incomplete.