Marching as a team of one — between Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei — Bates Olympian Dinos Lefkaritis ’19 of Larnaca, Cyprus, drew an extended shout-out from NBC announcers Mike Tirico and Katie Couric during opening ceremonies last Friday night, Feb. 9.
Flag bearer Dinos Lefkaritis '19 of Larnaca, Cyprus, leads the team during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on Feb. 9, 2018, in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Here was the exchange:
Tirico: “Dinos Lefkaritis, alpine skier, is the one athlete representing Cyprus. He’s on the ski team for the Bobcats of Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine. So Maine can root for Cyprus here in South Korea."
Couric: “Bates College: Bryant Gumbel’s alma mater.” [Gumbel is a member of the Class of 1970.]
Tirico: “A guy you know pretty well.”
Lefkaritis competed in the giant slalom on last week and although he did not finish his first run, he gets another opportunity in the slalom this week.
Slalom schedule:
First run: Feb. 22 at 10:15am KT (Feb. 21 at 8:15pm EDT and 5:15pm PT)
Second run: Feb. 22 at 1:45pm KT (Feb. 21 at 11:45pm EDT and 8:45pm PT)
Shortly after he paraded into Korea's PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, The Associated Press released a story and photograph of Lefkaritis carrying the Cyprus flag. “Dinos Lefkaritis, a junior at Bates College, carries the flag of Cyprus during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics,” noted the AP story, which was published by several thousand news media outlets and portals worldwide. “Lefkaritis, an engineering and economics major and the 12th Bates College Olympian, will compete in the alpine events.”
As the headline in the Portland Press Herald said, “There’s only one Winter Olympian from Cyprus, and he goes to Bates College.” On Friday, NBC's Portland affiliate, WCSH-TV, posted an interview with Lefkaritis, who recalled how his friends at Bates were sending him texts and snaps of him as he paraded at the opening ceremonies.
