In the Australian city, rhythmic gymnast Diamanto Evripidou won that many on her own, along with a silver and a bronze, to become one of the stars of the event.

Evripidou topped the podium in the team, all-around, hoop and ball competitions, as well as claiming silver with the ribbon and bronze with the clubs.

Marios Georgiou also won two gold medals in artistic gymnastics, on floor and parallel bars, and with both individual skeet gold medals also going to Cyprus the country left Gold Coast with eight titles, doubling their record from Delhi.

It means improving on that performance at Birmingham 2022 will be a tough ask, particularly as Evripidou is not attending and shooting, which has brought the island a lot of success, has been dropped from the programme.

Cyprus will compete in 10 sports in Birmingham, with 46 athletes in the team and a total delegation of around 100.

"Preparations are going well," said Georgios Papageorgiou, the Cyprus Chef de Mission for Birmingham 2022. 

"Cyprus is on track, Cyprus will be there.

"We truly hope that at least they have a good time, the athletes."

Cypriot athletes warmed up for Birmingham 2022 at the Mediterranean Games in Oran in Algeria last month, where they won five gold medals.

Georgiou won gold on the horizontal bar and two other Tokyo 2020 Olympians also tasted success en-route to the Commonwealth Games.

Hurdler Milan Trajkovic won gold over 60 metres at the 2019 European Indoor Championships and claimed the 110m title in Oran.

Discus thrower Apostolos Parellis also won Mediterranean gold and has two Commonwealth Games medals in his collection, silver from Glasgow 2014 and bronze from Gold Coast 2018.

Swimmer Kalia Antoniou was another to capture Mediterranean gold in the 100m freestyle, and, although rhythmic gymnastics was not on the Oran programme, the likes of Anna Sokolova will try and follow in the footsteps of Evripidou in Birmingham.

"My target as Chef de Mission is to take 100 people there and return with 100 people, and not 90 or 95 or whatever," joked Papageorgiou, an Executive Board member of the Cyprus Olympic Committee.

"From then on if a medal comes, it will be more than welcome."

In October, Cyprus had the honour of being the first overseas country to welcome the Birmingham 2022 Queen's Baton Relay.

Seventeen-year-old swimmer Nikolas Antoniou was the first runner and took the baton to Petra tou Romiou, said to be the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

Trajkovic took the baton to a monument dedicated to Apollo, while it was taken on a jet ski by swimmers Maria Papadopolou and Jack Hadjiconstantinou.

The baton also plunged beneath the waves to visit an underwater sculpture park.

Cyprus, which has competed at every edition of the Commonwealth Games since Edmonton 1978 with the exception of Edinburgh 1986, staged a memorable celebration for Commonwealth Day in March.

"We hosted it at the Olympic House, it was a very good experience," said Papageorgiou.

"We had about 600 kids from schools visiting, and the different sports federations that will participate in the Commonwealth Games.

"We had people from the High Commission speaking about the Commonwealth as well."

Papageorgiou, who plays hockey as a goalkeeper, is enjoying the challenge of being Chef de Mission, despite the demands of the job.

"The closer we come to the departure, it becomes an everyday thing," he said.

"It is stressful, but it is a nice journey. I call it a journey. 

"There is a very well known Greek poem.

"The first two verses go like this - 'when you set sail for Ithaki, may you wish your journey is long, full of adventure and experience'.

"This is what it has been for me, a long journey. There are hiccups, there is adventure, there is experience."

In June, Prince Edward, the youngest of Queen Elizabeth II's children and the vice-patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation, visited Cyprus with his wife Sophie.

"We got invited to the Queen's Jubilee celebrations at the High Commission, when, allow me to joke, 'Eddie' was there," Papageorgiou said.

"Prince Edward was there.

"We were invited because we had that joint event with the High Commission.

"This is what I mean, it's a very pleasant journey."