The Cyprus Olympic Committee awarded high jumper Kyriakos Ioannou with its highest distinction. Ioannou, who recently announced the end of his competitive career, offered many triumphs to Cypriot sports.

He won the bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in 2007 and the silver medal at the same Championships two years later. He won gold medals at the 2005 and 2009 Mediterranean Games and took the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, in 2006, and silver, in 2014. He also competed in four Olympic Games from Athens 2004 to Rio de Janeiro 2016, where he ranked in the 7th position.

Kyriakos Ioannou, thanked the Cyprus Olympic Committee for the award: “It is a special honor and pleasure to be remembered and be rewarded after the end of the sports career. I have enjoyed what I have done for so many years and I am proud of what I have achieved. I would like to tell young athletes to love what they do, and to keep working hard, regardless of whether big successes come or not”