Cyprus’ female pole vault champion Marianna Zachariadi passed away this week following a two-year battle with cancer.
The 23-year-old Greek born athlete was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma back in 2011 and her conditioned worsened in the first months of this year.
Ms Zachariadi gave a final interview earlier this month in which she spoke of her deteriorating health.
“I have taken every available medicine but nothing appears to work. I have been travelling backwards and forwards from Greece to Germany for some time now. After the radiology treatment, we will see where I stand…only one of my lungs is working and my chances are deteriorating day by day.”
She added, “I feel very lonely. In the beginning, they think of you a lot, then they think of you sometimes and then they finally disappear.”
Her touching interview prompted fellow athletes to call on the public to donate whatever they can in a bid to kick-start her therapy.
Footballers Constantinos Charalambides, Demetris Christofi, Andreas Avraam as well as fellow track and field athletes Kyriakos Ioannou, Eleni Artymata and Apostolos Parellis have all featured in an online video supporting Marianna.
In October 2010, she won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi while at the Mediterranean Games in Italy a year earlier, she won silver medalist with one of the highest scores in Europe that year.
