Occupation
Athlete
Education
University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Spoken languages
English, Greek
Coach
Panagiotis Petridis
International senior debut
2015 for Cyprus (Athlete, 04 Aug 2016)
Injuries
He was affected by back pain at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. (olympic.org.cy, 08 Oct 2019; gym.longinestiming.com, 07 Oct 2019)
An ankle injury forced him to withdraw from the men's individual all-around final at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He competed with the same injury at the 2017 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. (intlgymnast.com, 23 Jun 2017)
He suffered a finger ligament injury during the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, People's Republic of China, and missed two weeks of training. (Athlete, 04 Aug 2016)
Start sporting career
He took up gymnastics in 2003. (Athlete, 04 Aug 2016)
Reason for taking up the sport
He was selected to practise gymnastics by a specialist. (Athlete, 04 Aug 2016)
Milestones
He became the first Cypriot artistic gymnast to win a medal at the European championships when he claimed bronze in the individual all-around at the 2019 edition in Szczecin, Poland. (SportsDeskOnline, 19 Sep 2019; gymmedia.com, 14 Apr 2019)
He became the first Cypriot artistic gymnast to compete at the Olympic Games when he took part in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. (SportsDeskOnline, 19 Sep 2019; ueg.org, 28 Oct 2016)
Hero / Idol
Japanese artistic gymnast Kohei Uchimura. (Athlete, 04 Aug 2016)
Most influential person in career
Coach Panagiotis Petridis. (eng.gymnovosti.com, 25 Apr 2019)
Philosophy / Motto
"Sports make you a better person and that's because during training you'll experience both happiness and sadness. You'll feel excited and also disappointed, you'll feel proud and you'll feel that you've been wronged." (eng.gymnovosti.com, 25 Apr 2019)
Awards
He was flag bearer for Cyprus at the opening ceremony of the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. (laspos.com, 28 Jun 2015; gettyimages.ie, 12 Jun 2015)
Additional information
General
OTHER ACTIVITIES
He has worked with the anti-bullying campaign 'Be the Hero'. "When I was a student I was bullied at school. They would tease me about the colour of my skin, other traits that made me different and my sport. Words can be very harsh. That's why I wanted to take an active part in this campaign." (eng.gymnovosti.com, 25 Apr 2019)
Last update : 2021-09-28