Vasilis Papageorgopoulos ' onMouseout='HidePop("27584")' href="/topics/Thessaloniki">Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

) is a retired Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 sprinter

Sprint (race)

Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...

, former mayor of Thessaloniki. He won two medals at the European Indoor Championships

European Indoor Championships in Athletics

The European Athletics Indoor Championships were held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games which had been held since 1966. Run by the European Athletic Association, the championships took place annually in different cities all over Europe until 1990, when it was changed...

 as well as the bronze medal in the 100 metres at the 1971 European Championships in Athletics

1971 European Championships in Athletics

The 10th European Athletics Championships were held from 10 August to 15 August 1971 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, the capital of Finland.-Track:1966 |1969 |1971 |1974 |1978-Field:1966 |1969 |1971 |1974 |1978-Track:...

.

Papageorgopoulos' personal best time was 10.22 seconds, achieved in August 1972 in Izmir

Izmir

Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

. This ranks him twelfth among Greek 100 metre sprinters, behind Angelos Pavlakakis

Angelos Pavlakakis

Angelos Pavlakakis is a retired Greek sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres.He won the bronze medal at the 1995 European Junior Championships, the gold medals at the 1997 Mediterranean Games and the 1998 European Indoor Championships and the bronze medal at the 2000 European Indoor...

, Aristotelis Gavelas

Aristotelis Gavelas

Aristotelis Gavelas is a retired Greek sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres.He finished sixth at the 2002 European Championships and won the gold medal at the 2001 Mediterranean Games, the latter in a career best time of 10.14 seconds. In Greece only Angelos Pavlakakis has run faster...

, Christoforos Choidis, Alexandros Yenovelis

Alexandros Yenovelis

Alexandros Yenovelis is a retired Greek sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres.He competed in relay at the 1996 Olympic Games and the World Championships in 1993, 1995 and 1997, and in the individual distance at the 1993 and 1995 World Indoor Championships, without reaching the final.His...

, Haralambos Papadias, Konstantinos Kenteris

Konstantinos Kenteris

Konstandinos Kenderis, also spelled as Konstadinos Kederis is a former Greek athlete...

, Alexis Alexopoulos, Panayotis Sarris, Georgios Theodoridis, Yeoryios Panayiotopoulos and Alexandros Terzian

Alexandros Terzian

Alexandros Terzian is a retired Argentine-Greek sprinter.Terzián, an Argentine, won the national title of that country in 100 metres in 1989 and in both 100 and 200 metres in 1990...

.

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

New Democracy (Greece)

New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...

 party . Papageorgopoulos has been, since 1 January 1999, the mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Thessaloniki.

Papageorgopoulos also studied medicine. That is why most Thessalonians call him "The flying doctor"

He is currently under investigation for allegations of misuse of public funds (Aggelioforos newspaper, 13 March 2010)

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Venue	Result	Event
1971	European Indoor Championships 1971 European Indoor Championships in Athletics The 2nd European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in 1971 in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.-Track:-Field:-Medal table:-References:* at GBR Athletics* at GBR Athletics* at Die Leichtatletik-Statistik-Seite...	Sofia Sofia Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated... , Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...	5th	60 metres
	European Championships 1971 European Championships in Athletics The 10th European Athletics Championships were held from 10 August to 15 August 1971 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, the capital of Finland.-Track:1966 |1969 |1971 |1974 |1978-Field:1966 |1969 |1971 |1974 |1978-Track:...	Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is... , Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...	3rd	100 metres
	Mediterranean Games 1971 Mediterranean Games The sixth edition of the Mediterranean Games were held in Izmir, Turkey from October 6 to October 17, 1971. Fifteen nations competed in eighteen different kind of sports.-Medal table:-See also:**...	İzmir Izmir Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey... , Turkey Turkey Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...	1st	100 metres
1972	European Indoor Championships 1972 European Indoor Championships in Athletics The 3rd European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in 1972 in Grenoble, a city in France.-Track:-Field:-Medal table:-References:* at GBR Athletics* at GBR Athletics* at Die Leichtatletik-Statistik-Seite...	Grenoble Grenoble Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère... , France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...	3rd	50 metres
1974	European Indoor Championships 1974 European Indoor Championships in Athletics The 5th European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in 1974 in Gothenburg, Sweden.-Track:-Field:-Medal table:-References:* at GBR Athletics* at GBR Athletics* at Die Leichtatletik-Statistik-Seite...	Gothenburg Gothenburg Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area... , Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....	8th	60 metres
1975	Mediterranean Games 1975 Mediterranean Games The seventh edition of the Mediterranean Games was held in Algiers, Algeria from August 23 to September 6, 1975. Fifteen nations competed in 18 different kind of sports.-Medal table:-See also:**...	Algiers Algiers ' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000... , Algeria Algeria Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...	2nd	100 metres
1976	European Indoor Championships 1976 European Indoor Championships in Athletics The 7th European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in Munich, a city in West Germany, in February 1976.-Track:-Field:-Medal table:-External links:* at GBRathletics.com* at GBRathletics.com*...	Munich Munich Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat... , West Germany West Germany West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....	2nd	60 metres