Maria Papadopoulou is a former professional athlete, Olympic swimmer, specializing in butterfly events, fashion designer, entrepreneur and a Limassol Municipality Sports Office Manager.

Top Achievements:

• Cyprus National Records

100m Butterfly – 59.97 (25m pool) – Dublin, 2003 (until now)

200m Butterfly – 2:15.02 (25m pool) – Indianapolis, 1999 (until now)

50m/100m Butterfly (50m pool) from 1994–2008

• Olympic Games

Sydney 2000 – 100m Butterfly – 32nd place

Athens 2004 – 100m Butterfly – 29th place

• Commonwealth Games

Kuala Lumpur 1998 – 3rd place in the B Final, 100m Butterfly

Manchester 2002 – 2nd place in the B Final, 100m Butterfly and 3rd place in the B Final, 50m Butterfly

• Honors and Recognitions

Top Female Athlete of the Year by the Cyprus Sports Journalists Association – 2000, 2001

Best Swimmer of the National Club Championships – 4 consecutive times (2001–2004)

Best Swimmer of the National Individual Championships – 5 times (1996–1998, 2004–2005)

Recipient of the “Marianna Zachariadi Award” (Cyprus Sports Organization) at the EAK Awards in 2019

• Activities

Member of the “Athlete Career Transition Program” of the Cyprus Sports Organization (KOA) since 2001

Founding member of the Cyprus National Athletes’ Commission

Member of the “Fair Play Committee” of the Cyprus Olympic Committee 2010-2022

Member of the Olympic Academy Committee of Cyprus – C.O.C. 2015 – 2022

Member of the charitable “365 Foundation” – 2017 till now

Fair Play Ambassador – 2015, appointed by KOA