CYPRUS high jumper Kyriacos Ioannou has lashed out at the Cypriot Olympic Committee for failing to provide proper medical support after he was eliminated at the semi-final stage on Sunday, dashing his hope of a medal in Beijing.
Ioannou, who was bronze medallist in the recent world championships, had been one of Cyprus’ top medal hopes at the Olympic Games.
“It was my most important battle. I do not want to show that I am making excuses for myself to justify my failure, but I must say that I asked for one thing only and they did not allow it. I think that our Olympic mission mocked me,“ Ioannou said.
Ioannou had requested a specific chiropractor with whom he co-operates and was willing to pay for, but his request was not accepted.
The Cypriot athlete added that from August 5 to August 14, he only had two training sessions, he had pains all over his body and was not well.
But the head of the Cypriot Mission to the Olympic Games, Alecos Spanos, said that he could not accredit the chiropractor that Ioannou had sought “and could not allow someone on the Cypriot medical team who would be there for one specific athlete!”, adding that, “an official request for the accreditation of the chiropractor was not made by the federation”.
Ioannou was not impressed, quoted by CyBC radio as saying that “even third world countries have a doctor and chiropractor at their disposal.”
His feelings were echoed by his fellow Cypriot athlete, hammer thrower Skevi Theodorou, who claimed that she had a fever and felt unwell at 3am on Monday and there was no doctor in the Cypriot team to take care of her.”
Spanos said, “We do not bring the chiropractor or masseur or psychologist of each athlete. We have been taking a masseur and a sports psychologist to monitor our athletes for many years. When someone wants their own it is their own responsibility to bring them. We told Kyriacos we would do everything possible to accredit the chiropractor but the chiropractor Kyriakos wanted did not show up so I could try to accredit him, so Kyriacos made arrangements with another chiropractor of the Greek team, who went on August 11 and gave Kyriacos what he wanted.“
Ioannou said he felt like he was “scrounging” off the Greek team.
But Spanos described Ioannou’s training as incomplete, saying the Cypriot athlete had suffered injuries, tried to overcome them, but failed.
“He failed to make it to the final, end of story. He should just let it go. That would be the decent way to handle of the matter,“ Spanos concluded.
The Cyprus Olympic Committee yesterday expressed its disappointment in a statement that read: “Kyriacos Ioannou chose to overshadow the successes of his co-athletes, with his own individual problems,” adding that “the facts and attitudes have been recorded and will be presented in a report to the Head of the Mission in all the relevant bodies.”
“We completely understand the bitterness, frustration and disappointment of Kyriacos Ioannou over his appearance and his exclusion from the high-jump final. We feel the same. But the responsibility for his competitive ability is his own and his training team’s. Making up excuses and blaming others is unfair to him, because champions should also be dignified in failure. Basically, the Olympic Committee fully satisfied all the needs and demands of the track federation for the Olympic Games in Beijing. The chairman of the Federation, Antonis Drakos, was head of the track team in Beijing, whom he worked with perfectly, without raising any question of the sort that Kyriakos Ioannou mentions,” the statement added.
The Committee also pointed out that just 50 metres from the building that hosts the Cypriot team in Beijing is the Olympic Village Polyclinic which is equipped with the latest medical facilities and staffed by reputable scientists from around the world.
The leadership of the Cypriot Olympic mission in Beijing also issued a statement yesterday saying: “We are confident that sports lovers acknowledge the fact that the participation of Cyprus in the Olympic Games in Beijing was the best in the last 112 years. We have stressed repeatedly that an athlete is at the heart of the Olympic Movement and all our actions are aimed towards that direction.”
Ioannou, at 24, can hope to participate in at least two more Olympics.
