| Vasilis Papageorgopoulos | |
| Office: | Mayor of Thessaloniki |
| Term Start: | 1 January 1999 |
| Term End: | 31 December 2010 |
| Predecessor: | Dimitris Dimitriadis |
| Successor: | Yiannis Boutaris |
| Office1: | Deputy Minister of Culture |
| Primeminister1: | Konstantinos Mitsotakis |
| Term Start1: | 1991 |
| Term End1: | 1992 |
| Office2: | Member of the Hellenic Parliament |
| Constituency2: | Thessaloniki A |
| Term Start2: | 1981 |
| Term End2: | 1998 |
| Birth Date: | 27 June 1947 |
| Birth Place: | Thessaloniki, Greece |
| Party: | New Democracy |
| Spouse: | Eleni Papageorgopoulou |
Vasilis Papageorgopoulos (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Βασίλης Παπαγεωργόπουλος; born 27 June 1947) is a retired Greek sprinter, former mayor of Thessaloniki and convicted felon.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] 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. He was named the 1971 Greek Athlete of the Year.
Papageorgopoulos' personal best in 100 metres was 10.22 seconds, achieved in August 1972 in İzmir. This ranks him twelfth among Greek 100 metre sprinters.[6] 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, representing Thessaloniki, for the Conservative New Democracy party . From 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2010, Papageorgopoulos was the mayor of Thessaloniki.
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.[7] 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.[8] 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.”[9] In July 2015 Papageorgopoulos was granted parole due to health problems.[10]
| 1971 | European Indoor Championships | Sofia, Bulgaria | 5th | 60 m | [11] |
| European Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 3rd | 100 m | 10.56 s | |
| Mediterranean Games | İzmir, Turkey | 1st | 100 m | 10.4 s | |
| 1972 | European Indoor Championships | Grenoble, France | 3rd | 50 m | 5.82 s |
| Olympic Games | Munich, West Germany | (sf)* | 100 m | DNS | |
| 1974 | European Indoor Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | 8th | 60 m | [12] |
| European Championships | Rome, Italy | 9th (sf) | 100 m | 10.44 s | |
| 1975 | Mediterranean Games | Algiers, Algeria | 2nd | 100 metres | |
| 1976 | European Indoor Championships | Munich, West Germany | 2nd | 60 metres | 6.67 s |