Three athletes, Karolina Pelendritou, Maria Markou and Victoras Pentaras, will represent Cyprus at the 2024 Paris Paraolympic Games while the Cyprus delegation, set to begin arriving in the French capital as of next week, comprises 14 people. The Head of the Delegation, Andreas Theophylaktou, and Assistant Head, Savvas Lakeridis, will be the first to travel to Paris. They will arrive on 22nd of August while the athletes, coaches and remaining members will arrive in Paris on August 25th. The Games will be held from 28 August to 8 September 2024. A total of 177 countries will participate in the Paris Paralympic Games, with 549 events and 22 sports in total. The Opening Ceremony will take place at Place de la Concorde on August 28th, and the Closing Ceremony will be held on September 8th at the Stade de France. Cyprus will parade in the official attire of the Cyprus Paralympic Committee, with swimmer Karolina Pelendritou as the flag bearer. Victoras Pentaras secured his participation in the men's long jump t hrough his high ranking in the global standings. He has achieved many international successes, won several medals and accomplished remarkable jumps. Although his personal record in athletics is 6.05 meters, his officially recorded jump is 5.98 meters in Switzerland, which earned him first place. The long jumper will compete in the T37 category, marking his first participation in the Paralympic Games. Maria Markou is a Paralympian in bench press weightlifting. This is her second Paralympic Games. In the Tokyo Games in 2021, she made Cyprus proud by finishing in 7th place in powerlifting in the 67kg category. At the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the Cypriot Paralympian will compete in the 61kg category. Swimmer Karolina Pelendritou is the three-time Paralympic gold medalist with numerous world achievements and competes in the S11 category for the 50m freestyle and the SB11 category for the 100m breaststroke. This will be Karolina's sixth appearance at the Paralympic Games, a feat that very few athletes achieve globally. Being the flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games for the sixth time, Pelendritou said the 'feeling of walking into a packed stadium carrying your country's flag is unique and incomparable. No matter how many times I've done it, I always feel as if it's the first time. I get emotional and thrilled, just like in Athens in 2004," she points out. She also notes that 'the flag bearer should be a role model for their fellow athletes at the Games, as well as for those aspiring to participate in the future'. In the Greek capital, during her first appearance at the Paralympic Games, Karolina Pelendritou won her first gold medal, emerging victorious in the 100m breaststroke. Since then, five more Paralympic medals have followed. She climbed to the top of the podium twice more in the same event: in Beijing in 2008 and in Tokyo in 2021, again in the 100m breaststroke. In Tokyo, she also won bronze in the 50m freestyle, while she had previously secured third place in Beijing. In London 2012, she won silver in the 100m breaststroke. In total, she has participated in six Paralympic Games, having also competed in Rio in 2016. In all her appearances, Karolina Pelendritou had the "joy and great honor," as she puts it, of being the flag bearer of the Cyprus delegation. Karolina Pelendritou, along with her team, will depart from Athens for Paris on August 25th, coinciding with her 38th birthday. Until then, she is preparing intensively to be fully ready for the big event. "We've worked as best as we could for these Games, under the best possible conditions we had. Certainly, after six Paralympic medals, the goal is not just participation, but sometimes in sports, the outcome doesn't depend on us," she stated, adding, "personally, I will give my best effort and compete with 101% of what I can. Beyond that, the result does not depend solely on me'. Source : Cyprus News Agency
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