A commemorative stamp has been issued for his 2012 Olympic exploits and, no wonder, because Pavlos Kontides has put Cyprus on the map and now the Cypriot community of Melbourne is preparing to welcome him to the city.
The President of the Cypriot community in Melbourne, Stelios Angelodimos, said the man who is the island nation’s first ever modern Olympic medal winner will be in Melbourne as part of his preparations for this year’s Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo which begin on 24 July.
Mr Angelodimos said the Olympian will be in Melbourne to take part in the 2020 ILCA Standard Men’s World Championship at the Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne from 9-16 February.
Mr Kontides won silver medal at the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the Men’s Laser Class event and he has twice been a world champion, first at Split, Croatia, in 2017 and then at Aarhus, Denmark, the following year. He is a serial winner in boating competitions around the world .
His first Olympics was the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he finished 13th but that same year he won the gold medal at the World youth championships. He has also twice won silver at wold cup events and bronze in the Pan-European world championships.
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“Pavlos Kontidis, with his racing presence in the maritime arena and his unprecedented successes, makes Cypriots all over the world proud.” said Mr Angelodimos.
“He promotes and honours Cypriot sailing and Cyprus.We look forward to his arrival, “he told Neos Kosmos.
Last year the 30-year-old champion took part in a test event at Enoshima, about an hour’s drive from Tokyo – the venue where he will be competing in the Olympics later this year. Mr Kontides reached ninth place before having to withdraw because of apnea.
