Kyriakos Ioannou (, born 26 July 1984) is a retired Cypriot high jumper. He has twice won medals at the World Athletics Championships (2007 and 2009) and was the bronze medallist at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He is the only medalist for Cyprus at the World Athletics Championships since its creation in 1983. He's also the Cypriot record holder in the high jump, both outdoors (2.35 m) and indoors (2.32 m). Ioannou is a two-time medallist at the Commonwealth Games (2006 and 2014) and took back-to-back gold medals at the Mediterranean Games in 2005 and 2009.
Career His personal best jump and Cypriot national record is 2.35 metres, achieved at the 2007 World Championships held in Osaka where he won the bronze medal. He became the first World Championships medalist from Cyprus. Two years later, at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, he won the silver medal (2,32 m), only beaten by Yaroslav Rybakov. He also took the bronze medal at the 2008 World Indoor Championships and finished fourth two years later at the same competition in Doha.
His best jump in 2010, came at Lausanne Diamond League on July 8, when he took third place with a jump of 2.30. Ioannou began his outdoor season at the first 2011 IAAF Diamond League meet in Doha and set a joint meeting record of 2.33m alongside American Jesse Williams, though Williams was declared the winner on countback.iaaf.org, News, 6 May 2011, "Ten world leads in Doha’s flag-waving opener – Samsung Diamond League"; accessed 7 May 2011.
Due to an injury, he didn't start in the qualifying rounds at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu where he was one of the favourites for a medal.
In 2012, still injured, he arrived to qualifying to the Olympic final in London where he finished 12th with 2.20 m. The following year, he didn't compete. Ioannou competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, winning the silver medal with a SB of 2.28 m. Derek Drouin of Canada took gold (2.31 m).
In March 2015, Ioannou made the final of the European Indoor Athletics Championships but didn't arrive to make any jump due to an injury. In June, he obtained the Olympic standard by clearing 2.29 m.
In February 2016, for his first competition of the year, Ioannou equalled his own indoor national record from 2008 (and equalled by Dimitrios Chondrokoukis in 2015) by clearing 2.32 m in Hustopeče on his third attempt.
International competitions Representing 2001World Youth Championships Debrecen, Hungary29th (q)1.90 m2002World Junior Championships Kingston, Jamaica18th (q)2.12 m2003European Junior Championships Tampere, Finland6th2.15 mMilitary World Games Catania, Italy 3rd2.15 m2004Olympic Games Athens, Greece19th (q)2.25 m2005European Indoor Championships Madrid, Spain18th (q)2.18 mGames of the Small States of Europe Andorra la Vella, Andorra1st2.18 mMediterranean Games Almería, Spain 1st2.24 mEuropean U23 Championships Erfurt, Germany4th2.27 mWorld Championships Helsinki, Finland10th2.25 m2006Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia 3rd2.23 m2007World ChampionshipsOsaka, Japan 3rd2.35 m (NR)Universiade Bangkok, Thailand 2nd2.26 m2008World Indoor ChampionshipsValencia, Spain 3rd2.30 mOlympic GamesBeijing, China18th (q)2.25 m2009European Indoor ChampionshipsTurin, Italy 2nd2.29 mGames of the Small States of EuropeNicosia, Cyprus 1st2.25 mMediterranean GamesPescara, Italy 1st2.30 mWorld ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany 2nd2.32 mWorld Athletics FinalThessaloniki, Greece7th2.22 m2010World Indoor ChampionshipsDoha, Qatar4th2.28 m2012European Championships Helsinki, Finland21st (q)2.15 mOlympic GamesLondon, United Kingdom13th2.20 m2014Commonwealth GamesGlasgow, United Kingdom2nd2.28 m2015European Indoor ChampionshipsPrague, Czech Republic7th (q)2.28 m12016European ChampionshipsAmsterdam, Netherlands10th (q)2.25 m1Olympic GamesRio de Janeiro, Brazil7th2.29 m2019Games of the Small States of Europe Bar, Montenegro 2nd2.09 m 1No mark in the final
References
External links
Qualifying for the 2004 Olympics