Eleftheria Christodoulou

Eleftheria Christodoulou is a jiu-jitsu black belt from Cyprus who represents the ZR Team in the sport’s global circuit. Christodoulou gained notoriety as a grappler during her time competing in the colored belt divisions of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) where she conquered several important medals while working under the supervision of coaches such as Ievgen Skyrda, Max Carvalho, and Panayiotis Melodias.

Eleftheria Christodoulou Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Eleftheria Christodoulou

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr > José Olímpio > Max Carvalho > Eleftheria Christodoulou

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF European Open NOGI (2022)
• 1st Place ADCC European Trials (2022)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2021 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open (2019 / 2020** purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open No-Gi (2017** blue, 2019** purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF European Open (2017** blue)
• 3rd Place AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro (2021 brown)

* Absolute
** Weight and Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Guard Passer

Weight Division: Peso Pesado (79.3 kg / 174.8 lb)

Team / Association: ZR Team

Eleftheria Christodoulou Biography

Eleftheria Christodoulou was born on October 16, 1995, in Larnaca, Cyprus, being the daughter of refugee parents from the northern side of the Island who fled to Eleftheria’s birthplace when the Turkish army invaded the country in 1974.

Growing up, Eleftheria competed in an array of sports, mostly in Cyprus’ national circuit. The sport she played the most during her childhood was karate. From 14-17 years of age, Christodoulou joined a volleyball team and from 17-21 the young talent chose to work on her strength with her country’s Olympic Weight Lifting coach, which gradually became another passion of hers.

In 2016, Eleftheria studied architecture at the University of Cyprus in Nicosia. During her holidays, that year, she decided to start a new sport that could add something different to her day-to-day life. In her search for a suitable activity, she found jiu-jitsu by way of coach Panayiotis Melodias of Renzo Gracie Strovolos Academy.

The sport of jiu-jitsu quickly became a meaningful part of Eleftheria’s lifestyle. So much so that, after two years working in her profession, she decided to put her career on hold and join jiu-jitsu coach Ievgen Skyrda’s team in a small Ukrainian town named Kropyvnytskyi. An affiliate gym of ZR Team.

Sadly, Christodoulou’s time with Skyrda came shortly before the world was hit by a global pandemic (COVID-19), which stifled Eleftheria’s chances of competing more regularly. The young athlete remained training in Ukraine for a while but decided to return to her home country by the end of 2021, where she became a founding member of ZR Team in her hometown of Larnaca, alongside Louis Charalambous.

On November 2022, in Rome, hours before the European No-Gi Open, ZR Team Europe’s head coach, Max Carvalho, promoted Eleftheria Christodoulou to the rank of black belt. The Cypriot would later conquer double gold in the tournament, an event that marked her 15th competitive experience in this sport, staggeringly low numbers for an athlete as accomplished as Eleftheria at this time.

NOTE REGARDING ELEFTHERIA’S RECORD

Although BJJ Heroes has, traditionally, only registered the matches of pro-athletes, and despite the fact that Eleftheria Christodoulou only joined the black belt ranks on November 2021, the Cypriot athlete had competed in professional-level events such as the AJP World Pro and ADCC-sanctioned tournaments prior to her promotion. For that reason, we have included these top-level tournament results to her grappling record, despite her amateur status.