President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias visited on Tuesday the Olympic Village where he met Cypriot athletes, competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
“We may be small but we have a big heart," he said of Cyprus and the 17-member Olympic team which represents the country at the Olympics.
He said Cyprus has won the respect of powerful nations around the world and especially the host country China. "We are proud of this,” he added.
The President spent three hours with the Cypriot athletes, in the presence of the Chairman of the Cyprus Olympic Committee Kikis Lazarides and the Chief of the Cypriot Mission Alecos Spanos.
“It’s a great honor to represent our country and it’s a great honor to participate in this great sports fiesta,” Christofias said, adding that the presence of the Cyprus flag at the Olympic Games consolidates the existence of the Cypriot state, which still suffers from the Turkish invasion and the continuing occupation.
“Our wish and expectation, through the battles we wage on the political front, is to end Turkey’s occupation and halt illegal immigration into the northern Turkish occupied areas of the country. We also aim to reunite Cyprus so that it can serve the interests of all its citizens, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins in conditions of peace, happiness and prosperity,” he stressed.
Addressing the Cypriot sailors competing in Qingdao Olympic Centre, the President said: “we want these athletes to be able one day to sail in the waters of Kerynia,” (on the north coast of Cyprus and still under Turkish occupation). Christofias wished everyone success.
President Christofias visited also the headquarters of the Greek Olympic team and offered a replica of the Kyrenia ship (ancient ship found in Kyrenia) as a symbolic gift to the leader of the mission Isidoros Kouvelos.
He met the mayor of the Olympic Village, toured the site, conversed with athletes and witnessed how around 20 thousand people spend their day at the Olympic Village.
President Christofias announced that he and the Minister of Education and Culture Andreas Demetriou will visit a Chinese school, which was twinned with a Cypriot village as part of the Heart-to-Heart Partnership programme of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Educational Programme.
