Vasilis Papageorgopoulos

Vasilis Papageorgopoulos Βασίλης Παπαγεωργόπουλος
Mayor of Thessaloniki
In office January 1, 1999 – December 31, 2010
Preceded by	Konstantinos Kosmopoulos
Succeeded by	Yiannis Boutaris
Personal details
Born	(1947-06-27) June 27, 1947 Thessaloniki, Greece
Political party	New Democracy
Alma mater	Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Occupation	Businessman
Profession	Dentist
Religion	Greek Orthodoxy
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;text-align:center;"		Men's Athletics
Competitor for  Greece
European Championships
Bronze	1971 Helsinki	100m
European Indoor Championships
Silver	1976 Munich	60m
Bronze	1972 Grenoble	50m

|- |- |} Vasilis Papageorgopoulos (Greek: Βασίλης Παπαγεωργόπουλος; born June 27, 1947) is a retired Greek sprinter, former mayor of Thessaloniki. He won two medals at the European Indoor Championships as well as the bronze medal in the 100 metres at the 1971 European Championships in Athletics.

Biography

Papageorgopoulos' personal best in 100 metres was 10.22 seconds, achieved in August 1972 in Izmir. This ranks him twelfth among Greek 100 metre sprinters. ^[1] He also studied medicine.

Papageorgopoulos first got involved in politics in 1978 when he was elected City councilor of Thessaloniki. He practiced dentistry until 1981, when he was elected as a member of the Greek Parliament, representing Thessaloniki, for the Conservative New Democracy party . Papageorgopoulos has been, from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2010, the mayor of Thessaloniki.

Corruption charges

In April 2011, he was among 25 people contacted by an investigating magistrate with a probe into alleged embezzlement of 51.4 million euros at the municipality. He was also accused by his successor Yiannis Boutaris of providing inaccurate financial figures.^[2]In February 2013, he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzling of 17.9 million euro at the Municipality of Thessaloniki while he was mayor.^[3] In July 2014, the sentence was reduced to a maximum of 20 years after an appeals court in Thessaloniki ruled that Papageorgopoulos's crimes amouned to acting as "accessory to the stealing of municipal funds while in office.”^[4]

Honours

• At the 1972 Summer Olympics he was forced to scratch from the semi-finals after he had pulled a groin muscle in the quarter-finals.

References

1. ↑ All time best Balkan athletes, men - The Athletics Site
2. ↑ Kathimerini: Ex-Thessaloniki mayor to face embezzlement probe. April 28, 2011
3. ↑ Καταδικάστηκε σε ΙΣΟΒΙΑ Ο ΠΑΠΑΓΕΩΡΓΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ για το σκάνδαλο υπεξαίρεσης στον Δήμο Θεσσαλονίκης (in Greek). news247.gr. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2014. 
4. ↑ "Thessaloniki Ex-Mayor had his Life Sentence Reduced". Greek Reporter. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014. 
5. ↑ 1971 European Indoor Championships, men's 60 m final - Die Leichtatletik-Statistik-Seite
6. ↑ 1974 European Indoor Championships, men's 60 m final - Die Leichtatletik-Statistik-Seite

External links

• Website of Vasilis Papageorgopoulos
• Profile at the Thessaloniki Association "The White Tower"

Records
Preceded by Manfred Kokot	European Record Holder Men's 100 m 3 June 1972 - 16 June 1972	Succeeded by Pietro Mennea
Preceded by Konstantinos Kosmopoulos	Mayor of Thessaloniki 1999&2010;	Succeeded by Yiannis Boutaris