Nikolaos Kaklamanakis

Nikolaos "Nikos" Kaklamanakis (, born 19 August 1968, in Athens) is the Greek Gold-medal winner who lit the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He was named one of the 1996 Greek Male Athletes of the Year.

Kaklamanakis participated in five consecutive Olympic Games from 1992 to 2008, reaching the medal race in all five of them. He won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, while he was ninth in Barcelona (1992), sixth in Sydney (2000) and eighth in Beijing (2008).

Biography One of the most popular athletes in Greece, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis is a three-time Mistral class windsurfing world champion and a gold medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Sailing. He won silver in the event at the 2003 World Championships in Cádiz, Spain, behind Przemek Miarczynski of Poland. In the 2000 Summer Olympics he took the 6th place, while in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Kaklamanakis took the silver medal behind Gal Fridman of Israel. Four years later, in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games he finished 8th in the RS:X Men Sailing Race.

Kaklamanakis faced legal action from the Hellenic Sailing Federation in 2019 for alleged defamation. The lawsuit stemmed from statements Kaklamanis made during a speech in the Hellenic Parliament, criticizing certain practices within the federation. In 2022, the court acquitted Kaklamanis, ruling that there was no intent to defame.

Selected achievements Medal Event Year Bronze European Championship (Mistral) 1993 Gold European Championship (Mistral) 1994 Bronze European Championship (Mistral) 1995 Silver IMCO World Championship 1995 Gold Australasian Championship (Mistral) 1995 Gold IMCO World Championship 1996 Gold Atlanta Olympics 1996 Bronze European Championship (Mistral) 1998 Gold Athens EUROLYMP 1998 Gold Mistral World Championship 2000 Bronze International ASA Windsurfing Championship 2001 Gold Mistral World Championship 2001 Silver ISAF World Championship 2003 Silver Athens Olympics 2004