Marios Georgiou became the first ever European AA medalist from Cyprus making the history for his country and himself. He had to overcome many challenges on his way to this medal including bullying due to his ethnicity (he is half-Filipino) his mother leaving him a few years ago and his father passing away. He gave an interview to Sport-FM, talking about competing at Euros and his road to success.
Translated from Greek by Evita.
“I believe that anyone who has the will and these dreams can do it. We were a poor family and we faced a lot of hardships. My mother was in debt and she decided a few years ago to leave the country. She asked me if I wanted to go with her, but I had the Rio Games to look forward to. I chose to stay in Cyprus. When she finally left, she owed rents. They told me that if I wasn’t going to be paying then I had to leave the house. I was 17 at the time and it was all up in the air. I hastily found a place to stay and a while later my father came and lived with me. I was thinking about quitting gymnastics at the time in order to get a job and to start making ends meet. My coach managed to change my mind.”
“Last year I lost my father. There came a few days after that when I didn’t train at all, because I felt deeply sad. During those times when everything seemed pointless, my coach – Panagiotis Petridis – and my aunt were my rocks. He was the one who convinced me to resume my training. That’s how I managed to overcome the loss. Today my coach is like a second father to me. He’s stood by me through thick and thin. All the tough times, all the hardships are what is motivating me to keep going, to keep evolving and try harder each time. I’m looking to be recognized for me but also for my name, to experience the honor of my father giving me his name. I’m filled with indescribable joy when I hear “Georgiou” from the podium or during the medal ceremony. I understand that at that moment my family name is writing history. I want to do everything to justify all my hard work. Besides, that’s what makes me proud. That I made it despite everything.”
Georgiou said that gymnastics helps him forget about the bad things happening outside the gym:
“It helps you deal with a difficult situation and to feel better. I know that when I go to a practice that I will forget about everything else that might be going on. I can’t think of my life without it.”
He was bullied in school for looking different from the rest of the kids and for being a gymnast. He recently took a part in an anti-bullying campaign “Be the Hero”:
“When I was a student I was bullied at school. They would tease me about the color of my skin, other traits that made me different and my sport. “The ones that flips”, the would say among other things. Words can be very harsh. That’s why I wanted to take an active part in this campaign. Sports make you a better person and that’s because during training you’ll experience both happiness and sadness. You’ll feel excited and also disappointed, you’ll feel proud and you’ll feel that you’ve been wronged.”
Georgiou was overcome with emotions after the AA final:
“During the competition, I was at one point down in 7th place. I couldn’t figure out why. I then realized that I had my best apparatus for last, horizontal bar and parallel bars. Despite that even until the last second, I couldn’t cheer, I wasn’t sure. I still can’t believe it. I was so happy so proud. I was left breathless, I wanted to cry, to scream, to laugh and to swear: “Fuck yes, I did it.”
He is now preparing for his second Olympics and hoping to make history there as well:
“It’s a very hard road. People only see the success, but to get to that success each athlete has to fight, to hurt and to make sacrifices. Even in the daily things like going out for a walk.”
Photo: E. Mikhaylova, Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
