Spyros Capralos (, born 15 April 1955 in

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

) is a Greek 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 t ...

player and sports executive. He represented Greece at the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics. He has been the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee since 2009 and the president of the European Olympic Committees 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 Swis ...

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. 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. 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 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 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