Cyprus ‘dream team’ improves medal haul at Birmingham

Cypriot gymnasts Ilias Georgiou and Marios Georgiou secured the gold and the bronze medal in the Men’s Horizontal Bar final, a huge success for Team Cyprus at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

After Cyprus doubled its gold tally, the country went up one place in the medal table to 11 with seven medals – 2 gold, one silver, and four bronze. Six of those medals were secured by the men’s gymnasts.

Ilias Georgiou secured gold with a great performance scoring 14,466 points, with a difficulty score of 5,900 and an execution score of 8,566, taking the top spot on the podium.

Marios Georgiou, 24, scored 14,133 points, with a difficulty score of 5,800 points and an execution score of 8,333, secured third place and the bronze medal. It was his second bronze of the games.

Australian Tyson Bull, who scored 14,233 points, won the silver medal.

Ilias Georgiou, 22, said all the hard work the gymnastics team has put has finally paid off.

“The entire Cypriot team worked very hard and had many difficulties throughout this year with injuries but ultimately came out victorious.

The gold winner said he was aiming for a medal before the Games.

“I expected it, yes.

“I knew if I did my program right, I would get a medal now, whether it would be gold or something else I didn’t know.

Elias said he was particularly moved during the national anthem and could not even sing it because he was overcome with emotion.

Asked whether the artistic gymnasts could be described as the Dream Team of the Cypriot mission, Marios said: “Yes, I would easily describe it as Dream Team Cyprus.

“We are there for each other and help each other in anything.”