Apostolos Nikolaidis (sportsman)

Apostolos Nikolaidis

Apostolos Nikolaidis ( Greek Απόστολος Νικολαϊδης , * 1896 in Philippoupolis ; † October 15, 1980 in Athens ) was a Greek athlete and sports official.

Life

Apostolos Nikolaidis is considered one of the greatest Greek athletes and all-rounders of all time. Nikolaidis not only excelled in a single sport, but also managed to deliver top performance in several areas. In addition to football, which he practiced at the highest level for over ten years, these were mainly basketball , volleyball and decathlon . Since moving to Athens in 1917, he joined the Greek popular sports club Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos and remained loyal to it until his death.

In 1920 Nikolaidis took part in the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp , where he competed in football and athletics. In 1926 he was elected President of the Greek Football Federation (EPO) and in 1945 President of the Greek Athletics Federation (SEGAS). He headed the latter for 20 years. During the same period he was a board member of Panathinaikos Athens until he finally took over the post of club president there in 1974. In 1929 and between 1934 and 1935, Apostolos Nikolaidis was the coach of the Greek national football team .

As a sign of special appreciation for his work for the Panathinaikos association, his coffin was carried by athletes from the various departments at his funeral. In detail, these were: Ikonomopoulos , Kamaras , Antoniadis (football), Garos, Kalogeropoulos (basketball), Georgantis, Iliopoulos (volleyball) and Zaharopoulos.

After his death in 1981, the Panathinaikos football stadium was renamed in his honor in the presence of Greece's Prime Minister Georgios Rallis .

Web links

• Apostolos Nikolaidis in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )