The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Cyprus

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This page contains a list of the greatest Cypriot Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 2 of which were born in Cyprus. This makes Cyprus the birth place of the 111th most number of Athletes behind Burundi, and Curaçao.

Top 9

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.

Photo of Kyriakos Ioannou

1. Kyriakos Ioannou (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 33.15, 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 retired Cypriot high jumper. He has twice won medals at the World Athletics Championships (2007 and 2009) and was the bronze medallist at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He is the only medalist for Cyprus at the World Athletics Championships since its creation in 1983. He's also the Cypriot record holder in the high jump, 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.

Photo of Pavlos Kontides

2. Pavlos Kontides (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 26.25, 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, then twelve years later in Paris getting another medal of the same color behind Australia's Matthew Wearn. 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.

Photo of Aleksandr Zuyev

3. Aleksandr Zuyev (b. )

With an HPI of 0.00, Aleksandr Zuyev is the 3rd most famous Cypriot Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into different languages.

Aleksandr Zuyev may refer to: Aleksandr Zuyev (pilot) (1961–2001), Soviet and American pilot Aleksandr Zuyev (footballer) (born 1996), Kazakhstani football player Alexander Zuev (basketball) (born 1996), Russian basketball player

Photo of Marilena Makri

4. Marilena Makri (b. 2002)

With an HPI of 0.00, Marilena Makri is the 4th most famous Cypriot Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Marilena Makri (Greek: Μαριλένα Μακρή, born 18 November 2002) is a Cypriot sailor. She competed in the Laser Radial event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Andri Eleftheriou

5. Andri Eleftheriou (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 0.00, Andri Eleftheriou is the 5th most famous Cypriot Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Andri Eleftheriou (born 19 June 1984) is a Cypriot sport shooter, and a member of the women's national shooting team of Cyprus. Eleftheriou was born in Limassol. In 2006, she won the skeet shooting gold medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. She has also won silver at the 2006 ISSF World Cup in Germany, gold at the 2007 World Cup in Belgrade, Gold at the 2008 World Cup final in Minsk, and placed seventh in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the skeet event and a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the skeet event. She is openly lesbian.

Photo of Natasa Lappa

6. Natasa Lappa (b. )

With an HPI of 0.00, Natasa Lappa is the 6th most famous Cypriot Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Natasa Lappa (Greek: Νατάσα Λάππα, born 2 October 2001) is a Cypriot windsurfer and sailor. She represented Cyprus in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, one of 15 Cypriot athletes competing in the Games that year. She ranked 21st in the RS:X Women windsurfing event. She is a member of The Limassol Nautical Club.

Photo of Eleni Artymata

7. Eleni Artymata (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 0.00, Eleni Artymata is the 7th most famous Cypriot Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Eleni Artymata (Greek: Ελένη Αρτυματά, born 16 May 1986 in Paralimni) is a track and field sprint athlete, who competes internationally for Cyprus.

Photo of Li Meng

8. Li Meng (b. )

With an HPI of 0.00, Li Meng is the 8th most famous Cypriot Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into different languages.

Li Meng may refer to: Li Meng (politician) (Chinese: 李蒙), Chinese politician Li Meng (basketball) (born 1995) (Chinese: 李梦), Chinese basketball player

Photo of Apostolos Parellis

9. Apostolos Parellis (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 0.00, Apostolos Parellis is the 9th most famous Cypriot Athlete.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Apostolos Parellis (Greek: Απόστολος Παρέλλης,born July 24, 1985) is a Cypriot track and field athlete specializing in discus throw. He is the current Cypriot national record holder with 66.32 m (217 ft 7 in) since October 2019. Parellis competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London narrowly missing a spot in the final after finishing 13th overall with an attempt of 63.48m., just seven centimetres shy of the 12th position that gave the ticket to the final. In the 2015 Athletics World Championships in Beijing, Apostolos clinched 6th spot in the world with a 64.55m. throw. Since breaking the National Record in 2007 for the first time (57.81m.) at the age of 22, Parellis has been the islands top discus thrower, improving his personal best another eleven times. The 66.32m. mark was set in October 2019 at world championships Doha, Qatar.

People

Pantheon has 9 people classified as Cypriot athletes born between 1984 and 2002. Of these 9, 9 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Cypriot athletes include Kyriakos Ioannou, Pavlos Kontides, and Aleksandr Zuyev. As of April 2024, 7 new Cypriot athletes have been added to Pantheon including Aleksandr Zuyev, Marilena Makri, and Andri Eleftheriou.

Living Cypriot Athletes

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Newly Added Cypriot Athletes (2024)

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