Spyros Capralos (, born 15 April 1955 in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

former

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

player and sports executive. He represented Greece at the 1980 and

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

. He has been the president of the

Hellenic Olympic Committee The Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) ( el, Ελληνική Ολυμπιακή Επιτροπή) is the governing Olympic body of Greece. It is the second oldest National Olympic Committee in the world (after the French Olympic Committee), it o ...

since 2009 and the president of the

European Olympic Committees The European Olympic Committees is an organisation based in Rome, Italy, consisting of 50 National Olympic Committees from the continent of Europe.EOC members include transcontinental countries Turkey and the Russian Federation, as well as Israel, ...

since 2021. He has also been a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

since 2019.

Career

Champion of Greece in swimming from 1969 to 1975, Capralos studied economics at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

, and graduated from

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...

with an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in 1979. He competed in the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

and in the

. Captain of the Greek Olympic Team at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, he was the Executive Director and Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Organising Committee of the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens. He was elected president of the

in 2009, and re-elected in 2013 to a second 4-year term. He is a Member of the Executive Committee of the

and he is also the Chair of the Coordination Commission of the second edition of the

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic Games, Olympic tradition contested by sportsperson, athletes from European nations and several European Olympic Committees#Notes, transcontinental countries. The Games were ...

, to be organised by the European Olympic Committees in Minsk in 2019. In the same year he became a member of the

(IOC). On 10 June 2021, he was elected President of the European Olympic Committees by a 34–16 vote. On 16 January 2023, Capralos attended the funeral of Constantine II of Greece, a former Olympic champion, in his capacity as president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee. Aside from sports, Capralos is also the Chairman of Euroclinic, a private hospital in Athens, and the President and CEO of Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a Nasdaq-listed shipping company. Previously, he was also Chairman of the

Athens Exchange The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE or ATHEX; el, Χρηματιστήριο Αθηνών (Χ.Α.), ''Chrimatistírio Athinón'') is the stock exchange of Greece, based in the capital city of Athens. It was founded in 1876. There are currently five ...

S.A.

Honours

Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon (2022)

References

1955 births Living people Greek male swimmers Olympiacos Water Polo Club players Olympic water polo players of Greece Water polo players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Greek businesspeople in shipping Sports executives and administrators Greek male water polo players International Olympic Committee members Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class Water polo players from Athens {{Greece-waterpolo-bio-stub