Cyprus at the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1980. At the time of the Salt Lake City Olympics, no Cypriot athlete had ever won a medal. They would win their first medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. This was their seventh appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The 2002 Winter Olympics were held from 8–24 February 2002; a total of 2,399 athletes representing 77 National Olympic Committees took part. The only athlete sent by Cyprus to Salt Lake City was an alpine skier, Theodoros Christodoulou. He was the flag bearer for both the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. Theodoros Christodoulou was 24 years old at the
2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots popular mascot from those submitted. It also took only about 40 minutes for Zoich to take the top spot. 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots The mascots for the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics were revealed on February 26, 2011. A shortlist of ten Olympic and three Paralympic designs had been shown to the public on February 7, 2011. Along with the 2008 Russian presidential election, on 2 March 2008 there was an unofficial election held in Sochi to elect the mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics. 270,000 voters along with their ballots received a coupon