President Christodoulides visits Olympic Village, praises athletes

The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, visited the Olympic Village on Sunday, where he met with the athletes of the Cyprus Olympic Committee's delegation to the Paris Olympics, the "best ambassadors of Cyprus abroad", as he said.

During his visit to the Olympic Village, the President of the Republic met with the athletes and their coaches, the Administrative Team, the Medical Team, and visited the office of the Cyprus Olympic Committee, followed by a tour in the premises.

In his statements, President Christodoulides said that "I felt obliged to visit the Olympic Village and meet personally with our athletes, to wish them good luck, to thank them for the fact that they are the best ambassadors of Cyprus abroad" while he said that through the discussion with them a few issues they are dealing with came up.

One issue, he went on, was that of the available infrastructure for the athletes' training. President Christodoulides cited as an example "the fact that Marios Georgiou and the other athletes will not be able to train at Spyros Kyprianou stadium due to the renovation that is being done for the 2025 games." Certain solutions are under consideration, such as the use of a specific school hall at the Neapolis school, in Limassol by the end of August "so that the team can train normally" the President added.

Referring to the issue of future employment of athletes, the President said that "there are ways, there are plans that can cover our athletes" who compete in the Olympics.

"If we really want to use them as examples for our society, but also to develop our sport even more, these athletes need to stay within the sport, so that they not only feel the professional security, but at the same time to attract new athletes," he said. He stated that on these two issues, the discussion will continue in more detail, before making announcements.