ATHLETES from Cyprus

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Cypriot Athletes of all time. This list of famous Cypriot Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Kyriakos Ioannou (1984 - )

With an HPI of 30.60, Kyriakos Ioannou is the most famous Cypriot Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages on wikipedia.

Kyriakos Ioannou (Greek: Κυριάκος Ιωάννου, born 26 July 1984) is a Cypriot high jumper. He has twice won medals at the World Championships in Athletics (2007 and 2009) and was the bronze medallist at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in 2008. He is the only medalist for Cyprus at the World Athletics Championships since its creation in 1983. He's also the Cypriot record holder, both outdoors (2.35 m) and indoors (2.32 m). Ioannou is a two-time medallist at the Commonwealth Games (2006 and 2014) and took back-to-back gold medals at the Mediterranean Games in 2005 and 2009.

2. Pavlos Kontides (1990 - )

With an HPI of 24.01, Pavlos Kontides is the 2nd most famous Cypriot Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Pavlos Kontides (Greek: Παύλος Κοντίδης, born 11 February 1990) is a Cypriot sailor. He became the first Cypriot athlete ever to win an Olympic medal for his country, by winning the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Men's Laser class behind Tom Slingsby. He won the International Sports Prize World Athlete of the Year award in 2012. On Tuesday 19 of September 2017, Kontides took the 1st place in 2017 ILCA World Championship in Split, Croatia, becoming a World Champion. He won the championship again in 2018, as well as a silver in 2013. Kontides also competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the Men's Laser class, obtaining the 13th place. In the same year, he won gold at the World Junior Championships and in 2009 he won two silver medals in World Cups and a bronze in the Paneuropean Men's Championship. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Men's Laser class where he placed 7th. He was the flag bearer for Cyprus during the Parade of Nations. He also competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Men's Laser class where he was placed 4th. Kontides is currently ranked 6th in the ILCA 7 men's rankings. Kontides was born in Limassol. He is a member of the Limassol Nautical Club and is currently trained by Jozo Jakelić. He is studying ship science at the University of Southampton, and has taken a two-year break. The Republic of Cyprus honored Kontides through the issue of a Commemorative Stamp.