Key to the city bestowed upon Pavlos Kontides

The Mayor of Limassol, Nicos Nicolaides, bestowed the Key to the City upon our Olympic Champion over a ceremony held at a crowded Limassol Town Hall.

The event began with an extraordinary general meeting of the Municipal Council, during which the Mayor of Limassol put the award of the Key to the City upon Pavlos Kontides to a vote.  The resolution was unanimously adopted in a festive atmosphere with the attendees stating that the athlete is worthy of this honour.

Reading the relevant resolution out loud, Mr Nicolaides said that by giving his country its first ever silver medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games, Pavlos Kontides wrote his name in golden letters in Cyprus sport history.

He further stated that Pavlos Kontides is a shining example of an athlete whose integrity and morals are to be modelled after and that he represents a fine example of a Limassol athlete.  

The Municipal Council, expressing their gratitude on behalf of Limassol and of the whole Cyprus, bestowed the Key to the City upon the athlete.

In his address, read by the President of the CSO, Andreas Michaelides, the President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, stated that the values of humanity and solidarity are elements that stand out in Pavlos Kontides’ character, who is a role model for our children. 

At the same time, the President indicated that recognising Pavlos Kontides with the highest honour marks the beginning of Limassol’s activities as European City of Sport for 2020 and congratulated the Mayor, the City Council and the Sports Office of the Limassol Municipality.

The Chairman of the Youth and Sport Committee, Loizos Mavroudes, described this day in his speech as historic. “The Key to the City is bestowed for the first time upon a citizen of Limassol”, he stated.

In his turn, the honouree said that what he had to do with that key was to unlock the children’s dreams and help them realise them.

He wished the Limassol Municipality, on the occasion of being awarded the title of European City of Sport for the year 2020 “to build the infrastructure we need, to cultivate a sporting culture on our island, to bring children closer to sports, thus creating so many more champions”.