Cyprus’ Olympic House marks 20 years since opening

Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus’ Olympic House marks 20 years since its official opening on Saturday. The building was inaugurated on September 26, 2006, as a permanent home for the island’s Olympic movement and sporting federations.

Design and purpose

The Cyprus Olympic Committee (COC) said on Friday that the building opened just 20 months after its foundation stone was laid on January 12, 2005. The committee described the project as an investment in sport, the Olympic spirit and young people, rather than simply a new headquarters.

Architects Eleftheria Sergidou and Vasilis Pasiourtides designed the building following a nationwide competition. Their design drew on three dimensions of the Olympic ideal: the universal, the historical and the sporting.

Opening ceremony

The 2006 inauguration brought together figures from the international Olympic movement and Cyprus. Attendees included then International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, COC president Kikis N Lazarides and then president Tassos Papadopoulos. The late Lambis Nicolaou, an International Olympic Committee member, then House president Demetris Christofias, and representatives of Cyprus’ political and sporting leadership also attended.

The ceremony included a tour of the building and a performance by the Diastasis cultural group. Papadopoulos and Rogge unveiled the inauguration plaque.

An olive tree from Ancient Olympia was planted in the grounds in the presence of Papadopoulos and then Greek deputy sports minister Giorgos Orfanos, symbolising peace, victory and Cyprus’ connection with the Olympic movement.

During his visit, Rogge praised the building, saying he was unaware of an equivalent facility among the 203 national Olympic committees operating worldwide at the time.