Cyprus mourns death of former Olympic Committee president

The Cypriot sporting community is mourning the death of former Cyprus Olympic Committee (KOE) president Dinos Michaelides, who passed away this month at the age of 78.

“The family of Cypriot sport and the Olympic movement in Cyprus was saddened by the news of the death of the former president of the Cyprus Olympic Committee, Dinos Michaelides, at the age of 78,” the KOE said in a statement.

Michaelides served as president of KOE from June 2016 to October 2020. He was also president of the National Olympic Academy of Cyprus (NOC) for nearly a decade from 2012-2020. He was director of the KOE for 12 years from 1985 to 1996, as well as dean of the NOC from its foundation in 1985 until 1996.

He was highly regarded in the Olympic family in Europe and across the globe. Michaelides served as a member of the technical committee of the European Association of National Olympic Committees. He was also a member of the tripartite international committee that drafted the statutes of the Olympic Games and a member of the technical committee of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (ICMG).

In October 2021 the ICMG honored him with its highest honor by awarding him the Order of Merit to a number of persons for outstanding services to Mediterranean sport.

Michaelides was born in Paphos, Cyprus in 1944, and as a track and field athlete, he was a pancyprian, panhellenic and Balkan champion.