Spyros Capralos
{{Short description|Greek water polo player and sports executive}}
{{Infobox swimmer
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1955|4|15}}
| birth_place = Athens, Greece
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| sport = Water polo
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Spyros Capralos ({{lang|el|Σπύρος Καπράλος}}, born 15 April 1955 in Athens{{cite web|url=http://alumni.insead.edu/featured/SpyrosCapralos.cfm|title=Spyros Capralos, MBA'79|website=INSEAD|accessdate=2015-06-22}}) is a Greek former water polo player and sports executive. He represented Greece at the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics. He has been the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee from 2009 until 2025 and the president of the European Olympic Committees since 2021. He has also been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 2019.
Career
Champion of Greece in swimming from 1969 to 1975, Capralos studied economics at the University of Athens, and graduated from INSEAD with an MBA in 1979. He competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics and in the 1984 Summer Olympics.{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ka/spyros-kapralos-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417230246/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ka/spyros-kapralos-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |accessdate=23 July 2012}} Captain of the Greek Olympic Team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, he was the Executive Director and Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Organising Committee of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
He was elected president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee in 2009, and re-elected in 2013 to a second 4-year term.{{cite web|url=http://www.hoc.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78&Itemid=57&lang=en |title=History |publisher=Hellenic Olympic Committee|accessdate=2014-10-22}} He is a Member of the Executive Committee of the European Olympic Committees and he is also the Chair of the Coordination Commission of the second edition of the European Games, to be organised by the European Olympic Committees in Minsk in 2019. In the same year he became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).{{cite web | url=https://olympics.com/ioc/mr-spyros-capralos | title=Mr Spyros Capralos | last= | first= | website=The International Olympic Committee | date= | accessdate=24 August 2021 }}
On 10 June 2021, he was elected President of the European Olympic Committees by a 34–16 vote.{{cite news |date=10 June 2021 |title=CAPRALOS NAMED 9TH PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEES |language=en |publisher=European Olympic Committees |url=https://www.eurolympic.org/capralos-named-9th-president-of-the-european-olympic-committees/}}
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.{{cite news |date=16 January 2023 |title=Former King Constantine was buried in Tatoi next to his parents |work=Greek City Times |url=https://orthodoxtimes.com/funeral-service-for-former-king-constantine-held-in-athens-upd/ |access-date=16 January 2023}}
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 S.A.{{cite web |title=An interview with Spyros Capralos |url=http://athenscvb.gr/en/content/interview-spyros-capralos |accessdate=2015-06-22 |website=City of Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau}}
Honours
- File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 3Class BAR.svg Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon (2022){{cite web |url= https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/files/100337859.pdf|title= 令和4年春の外国人叙勲 受章者名簿|access-date= April 29, 2022|work= Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan}}
- File:POL Order Zaslugi RP kl4 BAR.svg Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2024){{cite web |url= https://www.prezydent.pl/aktualnosci/ordery-i-odznaczenia/odznaczenia-dla-dzialaczy-sportowych,87726|title= Odznaczenia dla działaczy sportowych|date=June 18, 2024|access-date= June 19, 2024|work= President of Poland|language=pl}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Greece men's water polo squad 1980 Summer Olympics}}
{{Greece men's water polo squad 1984 Summer Olympics}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capralos, Spyros}}
Category:Olympiacos Water Polo Club players
Category:Olympic water polo players for Greece
Category:Water polo players at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Category:Water polo players at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Category:Greek businesspeople in shipping
Category:Sports executives and administrators
Category:Greek male water polo players
Category:Greek International Olympic Committee members
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class
Category:Water polo players from Athens
Category:Officers of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
Category:20th-century Greek sportsmen
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