Not many words are needed to explain where someone belongs.
For Marina Hadjicosta, the athlete who has already given Cyprus reason to celebrate at major international competitions, the answer came through a deeply personal post, filled with emotion, pride and disappointment over the racism she says she experienced following her recent successes.
Marina was born in Limassol on 8 February 2009 and was adopted by Simoni Papaleontiou Hadjicosta and Savvas Hadjicosta. Her biological mother is from Poland and her biological father from Nigeria.
Yet she leaves no room for doubt about how she feels or which country she considers her homeland.
"I may not have Cypriot blood in my veins, but I am a proud Cypriot and I have represented, and will continue to represent, my country with pride."
She grew up in Limassol, attended the 3rd Primary School of Limassol and later the Laniteio Sports Gymnasium. She is currently a student at the Laniteio Sports Lyceum and will enter her third year in September.
Her family story is also intertwined with the history of Cyprus itself. Her mother is a refugee from Famagusta, specifically Varosha, while her father is from Limassol, with roots in Pachna and Akapnou.
The moment she was moved to tears by the national anthem
One of the most powerful reflections in her post concerns the moment she stood atop the podium at the European Under-18 Championships in Italy.
Having won the gold medal, she heard the Cypriot national anthem played in her honour for the first time.
"I was moved to tears by the pride I felt," she wrote, describing a moment that went far beyond the medal itself.
For her, it was the moment she realised she was not competing only for herself, but for an entire country.
The same feeling accompanied her at the World Under-20 Championships, where she won the bronze medal.
"Every moment of the competition I was thinking about making my country proud."
For Marina Hadjicosta, Cyprus may be small on the map, but it is not small in terms of ambition or potential.
"Cyprus may be a small island with fewer than one million inhabitants, but we are a very strong country that can compete with countries considered giants."
Success also brought racist comments
Behind the medals, distinctions and moments of celebration, however, the young athlete revealed a very different reality.
According to Hadjicosta, following her successes she became the target of racist comments from people who went so far as to question her right to feel Cypriot.
The comments focused not on her performances, sacrifices, training hours or the flag she represents, but on the origins of her biological parents.
She described such racism as "unacceptable" and stressed that she is not the only athlete to have faced this type of behaviour.
She referred to Milan Trajkovic, whom she described as one of the greatest athletes ever to represent Cyprus and who, she noted, has also experienced similar incidents.
Hadjicosta called on the state and the relevant authorities to address racism and discrimination seriously.
As she argued, the goal should be a society in which everyone can live in harmony without being judged by the colour of their skin or their background.
At the end of her post, she delivered what was perhaps the strongest response to those who sought to question her identity:
"How Cypriot I am is shown by my results and my humanity."
It is a statement from a girl of just 17 years old, who has already learned how to stand on podiums while simultaneously being forced to defend something that, in her view, should never require proof: the homeland she loves and the flag she chooses to carry with pride.
