Cyprus welcomed back home last night 22-year old Pavlos Kontides, the only Cypriot who has won an Olympic medal, with elation and cheers, as the Cyprus Airways flight that carried him home from London touched down.

Fire engines lined up the runway and used their water cannons to create a water arch through which the CA aircraft passed as it taxied, before it came to a halt.

Jubilant crowds who had gathered at the airport cheered Kontides, as he waived at them.

He said he was very happy to have achieved this ambitious goal, to be the first Cypriot athlete who won an Olympic medal, which he dedicated to all those who have supported him over the years, his family and the Limassol Nautical Club.

The government was represented at the airport by Minister of Education and Culture George Demosthenes, who offered him a commemorative gift, in the form of an olive branch.

The bishop of Larnaca said Kontides as a example for young people to follow and thanked him for the great honour he has bestowed on his country.

Representatives of Limassol Municipality, the Cyprus Sailing Federation, the Limassol Nautical Club, members of his family were all there to greet him.

Young fans, who crowded the airport, held banners which read “Pavlo, thank you, we are proud of you” and cheered him.

Kontides then boarded a bus to take him to his hometown Limassol, on the southern coast, where a welcoming ceremony awaits him at Limassol Nautical Club.

On Friday morning, at a special ceremony at the Presidential Palace, President of the Republic Demetris Christofias will honor Kontides with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic.

The President will also have a private meeting with Kontides and his family.

On Friday afternoon the Municipality of Limassol will organize a welcoming ceremony by the beach.

The 22-year old Limassolian secured the silver medal with 59 penalty points, behind Australia`s Tom Slingsby with 43 penalty points who took the gold, and Sweden`s Rasmus Myrgren in third place with 72 penalty points.

The Cyprus Sport Organization said Kontides’ silver medal “marks a new beginning for Cypriot sport.”

Kontides wrote on the Cyprus Sailing Federation website that he was inspired by his father, himself a Cypriot sailing champion and former federation chief, to take up the sport at the age of 9.

The young sailor won two consecutive World Youth Sailing Championships in Kingston Britain in 2007 and Aarhus Denmark in 2008. His first Olympic Games participation was in Beijing in 2008 where he finished 13th in Men’s Laser.

In 2011 he finished 5th in Men’s Sailing Championship and first in Youth Sailing Championship in Hayling Island. He secured his participation in the London Olympics in the 2011 World Sailing Championship in Perth, Australia.

Cyprus, an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, started taking part in the modern-day Olympics as an independent nation at the 1980 Moscow Games.