Vasilis Papageorgopoulos ( el, Βασίλης Παπαγεωργόπουλος; born 27 June 1947) is a retired

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 ...

sprinter, former mayor of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

and convicted

felon A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resul ...

. 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 The 10th (X) European Athletics Championships were held from 10 August to 15 August 1971 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Men's results ...

. He was named the 1971 Greek Athlete of the Year.

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.All time best Balkan athletes, men
- The Athletics Site 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 The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule of the Hellenes, label=none), also known as the Parliament of the He ...

, representing Thessaloniki, for the Conservative

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...

party . From 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2010, Papageorgopoulos was the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

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 of the municipality. He was also accused by his successor Yiannis Boutaris of providing inaccurate financial figures. In February 2013, he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzling 17.9 million euro of the Municipality of Thessaloniki while he was mayor. In July 2014, the sentence was reduced to a maximum of 20 years after an appeals court in Thessaloniki ruled that Papageorgopoulos's crimes amounted to acting as "accessory to the stealing of municipal funds while in office.” In July 2015 Papageorgopoulos was granted parole due to health problems.

Honours

* At the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

he was forced to scratch from the semi-finals after he had pulled a groin muscle in the quarter-finals.

References

External links

Website of Vasilis Papageorgopoulos

Profile
at the ''Thessaloniki Association "The White Tower"'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Papageorgopoulos, Vasilis 1947 births Living people Mayors of Thessaloniki Greek dentists Greek male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Greece Athletes from Thessaloniki Greek sportsperson-politicians Sport in Thessaloniki New Democracy (Greece) politicians European Athletics Championships medalists Corruption in Greece Greek prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Greek politicians convicted of crimes Politicians convicted of embezzlement Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1971 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1975 Mediterranean Games Politicians convicted of corruption