Periklís Iakovákis ( el, Περικλής Ιακωβάκης, , born 24 March 1979 in Patras) 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 ...

athlete mainly competing in

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

. He is the Greek record holder with a time of 47.82 seconds and fifteen times national champion in the event. He has competed at four

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

(2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012) and is a six-time participant at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the ...

. He was the world bronze medalist in 2003 and the European champion in 2006. His first major win came at the

1998 World Junior Championships 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and he won the gold medal at the

2001 Mediterranean Games The XIV Mediterranean Games ( ar, ألعاب البحر الأبيض المتوسط 2001), commonly known as the 2001 Mediterranean Games, were the 14th Mediterranean Games held in Tunis, Tunisia, from 2-15 September 2001, where 2,991 athletes ( ...

. He was named the 2003 and 2006 Greek Male Athlete of the Year.

Career

In 1998 Iakovakis won the gold medal at the World Junior Championships in Annecy, France with 49.82 seconds, and five years later he won the bronze medal at the

2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Men's results ...

in Paris-Saint-Denis, France. In the final at the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

, he finished in 48.24 seconds after Félix Sánchez and

Joey Woody Joey Woody (born May 22, 1973, in Iowa City, Iowa) is an American track and field athlete in the 400 meter hurdles event. Woody attended Iowa City High School and the University of Northern Iowa, where he was the 1997 NCAA champion in the 40 ...

. Iakovakis achieved his personal best of 47.82 seconds on 6 May 2006 in Osaka during the IAAF World Athletics Tour and won his first major competition 3 months later. He became European Champion in Gothenborg, Sweden finishing at 48.46 seconds in the final. After his win at the European Championships, Iakovakis won the full-lap hurdles event in 47.92 seconds at the Zurich Weltklasse Golden League meet at the last evening that this top meeting would be held at the Letzigrund. The reigning European Champion was then first at the Herculis IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting in Monaco. He won the bronze medal at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final, which was the last edition of the competition and was held in

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 Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

. In 2010 he set a season target of defending his European title. He suffered a minor injury to his soleus muscle in March, but recovered and began his preparation in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

and Cyprus. He identified

Dai Greene David "Dai" Greene (born 11 April 1986) is a British hurdler who specialises in the 400 metres hurdles, competing internationally for both Wales and Great Britain. In a 'golden' sixteen-month period between 2010 and 2011, Greene dominated the e ...

(the eventual winner) as his main European rival in the event. Finally he did not succeed in his goal, as he finished in the fifth place in the 2010 European final, having run in the tight first lane. He was slower in the 2011 season and, for the first time since 1998, his fastest run that year was over 50 seconds. He missed a seventh consecutive appearance at the World Championships, but did compete for Greece in the First League of the

2011 European Team Championships The third European Team Championships, took place on 18 and 19 June 2011. The Competition was divided between four divisions, with results determining promotion and relegation between them. The Super League event was held in Stockholm, at the Sto ...

, where he won the 400 m hurdles race. He marked a resurgence in form at the 2012 Greek Championships by winning his 15th straight national title, including a run of 49.04 seconds in the heats.Georgiotis, Vasileios (2012-06-17)

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

. Retrieved on 2012-06-24. Maria Sotirakopoulou has been his coach for many years.

Honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iakovakis, Periklis 1979 births Living people Athletes from Patras Sportspeople from Trikala Greek male hurdlers Olympic athletes of Greece Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Greece Athletes (track and field) at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2013 Mediterranean Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Greece World Athletics Championships medalists Greek European Athletics champions (track and field) Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Greek male sprinters