Marching as a team of one 鈥� between Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei 鈥� of Larnaca, Cyprus, drew an extended shout-out from NBC announcers Mike Tirico and Katie Couric during opening ceremonies last Friday night, Feb. 9.
Here was the exchange:
Tirico: 鈥淒inos Lefkaritis, alpine skier, is the one athlete representing Cyprus. He鈥檚 on the ski team for the Bobcats of 乐播传媒 College, in Lewiston, Maine. So Maine can root for Cyprus here in South Korea.”
Couric: 鈥溊植ゴ� College: Bryant Gumbel鈥檚 alma mater.鈥� [Gumbel is a member of the Class of 1970.]
Tirico: 鈥淎 guy you know pretty well.鈥�
+Lefkaritis' Olympic TV Schedule
Lefkaritis is scheduled to compete in the giant slalom and slalom at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre.
Giant Slalom
First run: Second run:
Slalom
First run: Second run:
Shortly after he paraded into Korea’s PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, The Associated Press released a story and photograph of Lefkaritis carrying the Cyprus flag.
鈥淒inos Lefkaritis, a junior at 乐播传媒 College, carries the flag of Cyprus during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics,鈥� noted the AP story, which was published by several thousand news media outlets and portals worldwide. 鈥淟efkaritis, an engineering and economics major and the , will compete in the alpine events.鈥�
As the headline in the said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 only one Winter Olympian from Cyprus, and he goes to 乐播传媒 College.鈥�
On Friday, NBC’s Portland affiliate, WCSH-TV, , who recalled how his friends at 乐播传媒 were sending him texts and snaps of him as he paraded at the opening ceremonies.
