Olympic swimmer hoping to make Cyprus proud

Cypriot swimming champion Nikolas Antoniou is heading to the Paris Olympic Games with the aim of doing his best and achieving a good individual time.

The Cypriot champion, and his sister Kalia, will be at the Olympic Games for the second time after taking part in the Tokyo Olympics.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, he said there is no better feeling than going with your sister to the Olympics.

“I am immensely proud that I managed to qualify for the second time with Kalia. I hope we do even better compared to 2021,” he said.

“I wish to make Cyprus proud. Me and my sister will try to do everything we can for a success for Cyprus.”

He described his first participation in Olympic Games as “exceptionally special”.

He said the journey to the Paris Olympics began in 2022, after “we had a very good season after the Olympic year”.

After securing some youth medals, Nikolas said both he and his sister suffered some injuries which held them back, but he is now in America with a new coach.

“At first I was not so comfortable. I’m still trying to adapt to America, but in the last two months together with my coach, Stavros Michaelides, I managed to qualify for the Paris Olympics,” he said.

He is due to swim in Paris on July 30.

“We have few issues with swimming pools here in Cyprus. They are a bit too hot, which is normally forbidden, so I have to constantly travel from Limassol to Nicosia, Limassol to Larnaca to find the right pool temperature, it may be 25 metres, it may not be 50 metres.” Olympic pools are 50 metres.

Asked what his goals are for Paris and what demands he has, the Cypriot champion said he goes to Paris with a good individual time.

“I always try to do my best and I hope to achieve a personal best, which is the most important goal for me this year. Especially this year, which has been a extremely difficult, so if I manage to get down to 49.5 I will be very proud,” he said.

Commenting on combining training with student life, he said this is not the hardest part as the American system has it worked out but he said the difficulty was the culture and “being away from family, friends”.

After the Olympics, Nikolas will come back to Cyprus before returning to the US.

“I wish to have a good season at university as well, where the pool is different. It’s short course yards, it’s half the distance we swim in the Olympics, I (have to) adapt to that pool and next year we have the Games of the Small States of Europe, we have world championships.”

Asked if he sees in the future including participation in the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028, he said “Of course, but it’s too early.

“First let’s stay at 2024 and see how it turns out. Anyway, 2028 is in Los Angeles, I’m in Berkeley, it’s an hour away…”