Six-time paralympic medallist swimmer Karolina Pelendritou will be Cyprus’ flagbearer at the Paralympic Games’ opening ceremony, the Cyprus Paralymic Committee announced on Tuesday.

Pelendritou will be competing at her sixth Paralympic games this year, having won medals at four of her previous five competitions – one gold each in Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008 and Tokyo in 2021, a silver in London in 2012 and two bronzes, in Beijing in 2008 and in Tokyo in 2021.

This time around, she will be competing in the S11 category 50-metre freestyle race, in which she won bronze in Tokyo and the SB11 category 100m breaststroke race, in which she won gold in Tokyo.

The opening ceremony will take place on August 28 and will, according to the International Paralympic Committee, “open with a popular parade on the iconic Champs-Elysées.”

At the end of the parade, the majority of the ceremony will take place in Place de la Concorde, one of Paris’ iconic central squares.

Of the planned ceremony, its artistic director Thomas Jolly said, “from the Champs-Elysées to Place de la Concorde, I look forward to creating this spectacle that will transform the heart of Paris, with performances that have never been seen before.”

Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet concurred, saying the opening ceremony will highlight paralympians’ achievements.

“To ensure that the spotlight is firmly on the achievements of the paralympic athletes, the values that they embody and the emotions that they inspire in us, Paris 2024 wanted to offer them a groundbreaking showcase by organising the first Paralympic Games opening ceremony outside the confines of a stadium,” he said.

Cyprus will send a total of three athletes to the games. Alongside Pelendritou, weightlifter Maria Markou is set to appear at her second Paralympic Games and long jumper Viktoras Pentaras will make his paralympic debut.

The country has won a total of eight paralympic medals in its history, with sprinter Antonis Aresti’s two silver medals in Beijing in 2008 adding to Pelendritou’s successes.