One of the first events I attended as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, three years ago, was here at the Olympic Hall with the Cyprus Olympic Committee. It is therefore fitting that tonight I am here again, with you, with the Cyprus Olympic Committee, in one of my last appearances as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth.
I share with you tonight the joy of our young talents, athletes who have distinguished themselves and are receiving awards, most of whom are students. I am pleased to note once again that the Olympic Committee is rewarding the efforts and effort, dedication, but also the performance and achievements of our young athletes. For in this way we promote excellence in sport, we reward both talent and systematic effort, while at the same time we provide motivation and role models for all our young people to indulge in sport, to exercise and to cultivate willpower, physical well-being and health, of course, but at the same time all the noble ideals of sport and our glorious Olympic tradition.
All the more so since today, we are paying special tribute to our great champion, the jumper Kyriakos Ioannou, who through his career has emerged as a role model. Kyriakos, who with his performance in the high jump led our country very high on the international stage, gives a measure of our goals and efforts. Tonight we feel that new role models will emerge among our young athletes. But above all, that together, with their efforts, as well as with the activity of athletes who may not engage in championship sport, we are raising the Cypriot sport high.
In short, we are always following in the footsteps of our great three thousand years old tradition, according to Homer's "Aien Aristain and hypirochon έμμενai others".
We move forward guided by the values and principles that not only illuminate our course over time, but by beaming the Greek spirit have become a universal heritage.
I must also add that I feel a special emotion since tonight's event is dedicated to the memory of a great man of sport and letters, my friend the late Uranios Ioannidis. It is an opportunity to remember his own very great contribution to sport, not only from his position as Minister, but much more broadly.
The direct relationship of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth with the development of sport emerges daily through the dual objective of educating fully qualified young people, providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills of our time, but also shaping well-rounded personalities who cultivate physical well-being, mobility and physical health. The state's goal of delivering healthy young people to society is inseparable from both spiritual formation and mental and physical health.
I would like to stress here that with the institution of Sports Schools, which operate in the form of specialised sports sections in selected secondary schools, the Ministry aims to provide multi-faceted support for students who systematically engage in and excel in sport. These schools support the proper preparation and promotion of sport and competitive athletics, acting in a way as "nurseries". They also contribute to the development of school sport in general and are a model of the so-called 'dual career'. In other words, when we refer to student-athletes, we can be sure that, together with their systematic sports preparation, they will not neglect their general education in accordance with the school's programmes. By also promoting creativity and innovation in sports on a daily basis, it is no coincidence that sports schools are considered one of the most successful institutions of the Ministry. We want them to be highlighted as an example for sports development.
I would like to add one more additional initiative, since, in cooperation with the CoEAS, athletics competitions were announced this year for our primary schools, at provincial and national level. This event is intended to function as an institution. We want in this way to encourage sport from younger ages and to give sport greater depth.
In the direction of innovation, I would like to mention the proposal for the creation of a Deputy Ministry of Sport, which I hope will be completed in the next few years. It is something that was included in the Governance Programme of President Nicos Anastasiades, but due to the great disruption that arose with the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, as well as the planning for the creation and operation of the other five deputy ministries, there was not enough time to complete it. However, we have prepared, in cooperation with the CMO as well, a draft for the creation of a Deputy Ministry of Sport. The matter is henceforth brought to the attention and discretion of the next government. I personally strongly believe that Cyprus needs a Deputy Ministry of Sport. Moreover, this is reinforced by the very beneficial presence and work of the Deputy Ministries that have been created, for the first time, in recent years. Starting from a reality where through a Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, sport was one out of four sectors, we are now in a better "analogy" where sport is one out of three sectors covered by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth. But it would be even better if it had a separate government structure of its own.
To avoid any misunderstanding, I should of course stress that the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth would not want to be alienated from sport. On the contrary, even when there is a state ministry for sport, the Ministry of Education will not cease to have a few hundred teachers specialising in physical education with a daily preoccupation and care for sport, several hundred philologists who will continue to teach the fundamental principles that come to us from Homer, Plato, Aristotle and all the rich Greek literature or Olympic education in general. As well as all our other teachers in general, who cultivate a similar spirit with various opportunities, each in their own field.
Involvement in sport - you know it but we must always emphasize it - contributes to a person having all the characteristics of a good citizen: self-awareness and self-confidence, persistence in achieving goals and at the same time cooperation and teamwork, acceptance and discrimination at the same time, fair play. And how much we need the cultivation of a consciousness of fair play, when we still see manifestations of violence through blind fanaticism and fanaticism, which show that the basic experience that through sporting effort one learns both how to win and that one may not always win is not fully established. I note the presence here at tonight's event of two other sporting role models, our great footballer Michalis Konstantinos and the shooting champion Konstantina Nikolaou.
Time passes, people change, but ideas and projects remain, while institutions and values that are pursued ensure the necessary social continuity. So tonight, through the promotion and rewarding of our young athletes who excel and stand out, the pursuit of sporting excellence is declared.
I congratulate the coaches and all those who support our young athletes, as well as the Federations and their sports agents. The work they are doing deserves congratulations. Good management and professionalism from the development base to the top, as well as the multifaceted continuous support of our athletes will continue to allow our small country to experience great sporting achievements.
Special and special congratulations are due to the parents and families of the athletes, who encourage them, support them diligently, sometimes even with sacrifices. The parents of the laureates have every reason to feel proud here tonight.
Dear laureates, I am addressing you in particular, as this is in fact your time and I congratulate you warmly. With your award tonight by the Olympic Committee, we are responding to Plato's dictum that "the excellent adorn the state that recognizes them". Stay on the path you have chosen and fight the good fight. Continue the efforts that fill you and that bring out your personality, that allow you to cultivate your virtues. With the aim, as we recently heard our great champion tell you, to reach and even surpass his own performances and, inspired by worthy role models, to become role models yourselves.
In closing, I extend my warmest congratulations to the President and the members of the Executive Council, as well as to all the people of the Cyprus Olympic Committee. Both for tonight's event and for their overall activity. While, at this time I would like to address to the President George Chrysostomou and to all the people of the CIO heartfelt thanks and for the close cooperation we had during the last three years.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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